Posted on: Sunday, March 18, 2001

4 moms and a ball of fluff

By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Staff Columnist

Motherhood has broken out at the Outrigger Canoe Club since a fairy tern egg hatched in the crook of a plumeria tree just outside the front door.

Four doting mothers, working in shifts, share the duties of feeding, baby sitting and what passes for potty training.

"The baby has a little of a diarrhea problem," admitted Debbie Stanley, who also works as executive secretary to the general manager of the club.

Actually, Stanley considers herself the official baby photographer, while daytime receptionist Jennifer Richardson acts as baby-sitter until night receptionist Charmain Suster takes over.

Meanwhile, the fairy tern mother who laid the egg handles feeding.

The human mothers can give you a history of the newborn with the precision of a pediatrician's chart from the time the egg hatched three weeks ago.

This was the result of a romance between two fairy terns who were observed fluttering about the plumeria tree in a domestic way.

"We didn't catch them in the act," said Stanley. "They must have done it on their honeymoon. We knew the mother had laid the egg because she sat so still and close to the branch."

Apparently, fairy terns raise their children on a tight budget. They don't even build a nest.

"We watched the father and mother make this sticky stuff and put it on the tree limb," said Richardson. The sticky stuff kept the egg from falling off.

Never having raised a fairy tern before, the mothers at the Outrigger were fascinated by the way the father pitched in.

"She sits on the egg and the father brings food," Richardson explained. "Then the father sits while she's out fishing, maybe for half a day."

The first feeding created as much excitement as a new tooth in the maternity ward. On second thought, I'm told that babies don't teethe in maternity wards.

Anyway, Richardson suddenly shouted from the reception desk, "Get out here. Hurry up!"

Stanley rushed from the executive office to stand under the plumeria tree in wonder. There on a crooked branch perched the fairy tern family.

"The father was trying to feed the baby a little fish," said Stanley. "But the baby couldn't eat it. Finally, the mother took the fish and swallowed it, then regurgitated in the baby's mouth."

After that, the mother sat on the baby until a week ago. The father faithfully came around with fish until the baby didn't need to be sat on, then disappeared. "He's probably got another woman," Stanley said philosophically.

This is the third baby fairy tern born in the Outrigger Canoe Club plumeria tree. The first one grew up and flew away. A cat got the second one and its mother.

This one is still a ball of fluff. Mostly, it sits in the tree waiting to be admired by club members. Sometimes it walks up and down.

It's about 15 feet off the ground in plain sight.