Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world with more than 400 billion cups consumed each year. Coffee is often grown in the areas of the world such as Central America that provide important overwintering habitat for many bird species, including Baltimore Orioles, Prothonotary Warblers and Ovenbirds. Sun-grown monoculture coffee plantations destroy native habitat and do not support the needs of overwintering birds or other wildlife. With the many challenges that birds already face (such as climate change) and scientists revealing the continuing decline of bird populations, it is now even more critical that every habitat that supports a bird’s life cycle is protected.
If you are a coffee-drinker (and so many of us are) purchasing Bird-Friendly ® Coffee is an easy way to support our feathered friends and their habitat needs. Bird Friendly ® Coffee is a shadegrown
organic certification program managed by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. The program requires coffee farms to meet criteria that include USDA organic certification as well as regulating canopy height and structural diversity while utilizing native tree species. Thanks to the ever-increasing environmental awareness of consumers (a good thing!), this coffee product is certainly not the only shade-grown coffee available on the market today. Audubon also provides information on how to wisely choose other shade-grown coffee sources.
Drinking coffee grown using bird-friendly techniques is one of the seven simple actions to help birds developed by Cornell Lab or Ornithology. I encourage you to do your homework and think of birds and their global habitat needs before making your next coffee purchase. It is the accumulation of individual actions that can make a big difference in creating a future where birds continue to thrive. Then, sit back and enjoy a wonderful cup of coffee that supports important bird habitat as you watch the feathered beauties in your own yard!
