NJ.com: Hoboken now has an honorary bird. This group wants to get the common tern its own nesting platform

View the original story on NJ.com

By Teri West | The Jersey Journal

If you walk to the end of the pier off 12th Street in Hoboken and look carefully at the neighboring one, you’ll see the city’s newest wildlife darlings, a colony of common terns tending to nests and hatchlings.

The migratory birds, not to be confused with seagulls, are the epicenter of a preservation movement that escalated just a month ago after two nests of eggs were successfully laid on a pier despite the pier’s private owners placing physical barriers to deter them.

An immediate response by advocates not only helped to dismantle the deterrents, but spurred the establishment of an organization to protect them, a new government status for the bird and ambitious plans for their future in the city.

“This bird has absolutely invited me to fall in love with it and become my favorite bird,” said birder Jeffrey Train, who has led the advocacy efforts. “And yeah, it started with a challenging adversity.”

Terns — distinguishable by their long angular wings, breeding season gray belly, black cap and red bill — are common in coastal communities of the Northeast, despite a dropoff in population.

Terns, which dive toward the water and gracefully pick off small fish just below the surface, have been nesting on the private pier during their migration in the spring and summer for 11 years.

It was only in the lead-up to this migratory season, however, that the development company that owns the land moved to deter them, installing string, netting and wires.

They caused one tern’s death, Train said.

Ironstate, which owns the pier where the birds primarily nest, said that after removing the deterrents it “created accommodations for the birds on the pier” while also giving crews working on the Hudson Tunnel Project access to it, the initial reason it sought to divert the birds.

Still, advocates think private property and bird nesting are not the healthiest combination.

The long-term solution could be a site dedicated exclusively for the terns, which Train now hopes to get built as a floating platform near Weehawken Cove. It is a model that worked for the same species, the common tern, in Maryland.

“It’s been done elsewhere, and it’s proved to be successful,” said Ron Hine, executive director of Fund for a Better Waterfront, which has advocated for recreational access to Hoboken’s waterfront for 20 years. “With the expertise that can be provided by state and federal wildlife officials, it sounds like a very feasible plan.”

It’s not something that will happen overnight. In fact, Train expects it to take years.

But he thinks it can be done so long as he precures the funds to make it happen, which he envisions doing through both private fundraising and public grants. Together with two other residents who are passionate about the outdoors, he created a coalitionfocused on the birds called Our Tern.

Train doesn’t envision the floating platform being a government project, but he already has municipal officials on his side. Adam Leitner, the Shipyard Marina director of operations, said Ironstate supports investigating the floating nesting site as a long-term solution.

The common tern is now Hoboken’s honorary city bird after Train suggested the concept to the city council and the council voted favorably.

His 14-year-old son Otys sat through the first three hours of last week’s council meeting before telling the council that “making the common tern our official bird will help us make even more nature and habitat in this city.”

The idea was inspired by a group in Honolulu that advocated for the white tern and had it named the city’s official bird, Train said. He consulted with the group in the lead-up to Hoboken’s designation.

“They really coached us on how you might think this is a symbolic act, but it has really gotten the ball rolling to make people who aren’t birders aware,” Train said.

Though the floating nesting site is likely at least a few years out, Train hopes to begin having nesting boxes installed in the meantime.

And he is taking plenty of opportunities to employ tern puns, even beyond “Our Tern.”

When told that The Jersey Journal would be covering his efforts, his response? “Terniffic!”