This article on bird-friendly coffee was written by C. Jay, a member of Valley Forge Audubon Society’s Youth Birding Club.
The purpose of the Smithsonian Bird-Friendly Coffee Program is to protect the coffee plantations that have dense thick tree canopies, so that birds native to the farms have a home. Coffee naturally grows under trees in the shade providing foliage for birds to nest, hunt, and hide in, but a lot of coffee is grown in the sun using pesticides. The pesticides poison and kill the insects that are food for the birds. Birds cannot live in coffee farms that use pesticides, making it harder and harder for a young bird to find a home and nesting place to live in after it fledges.
Happily, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC) realized what was happening as more coffee farms were removing vegetation from their plantations and in 1996 hosted the first Sustainable Coffee Congress. People from all over the world came to discuss what they could do about this increasing problem. The Congress decided to develop a program that all coffee farmers were allowed to join, so long as they met the standards. Smithsonian then went on to develop the first and only 100% shade-grown and 100% organic coffee certification. To get the certification a coffee farm needs to be pesticide-free and be inspected once a year to make sure that it stays organic. The farm must have 40% shade covering, and the shaded areas also must have layers of shading plants: the forest must be at least 12 meters high and have at least 11 different kinds of trees and shrubs. To maintain biodiversity the main species of plant that provides shade cannot make up more than 60% of the forest. A coffee farmer from Guatemala said, “We maintain a good shade cover so that birds and other wildlife have good habitat.” Another coffee farmer said, “It is important to care for and create biodiversity… this creates balance in life on this planet.” All the trees and shrubs help provide the birds with safe areas to nest and forage, which is why it is so important that there are bird friendly coffee farms, and the Bird Friendly Coffee farmers who want to grow Bird-Friendly Coffee. A coffee farmer from Honduras said, ”It brings me joy and smiles. There is nothing more pleasant than waking up in the morning to the singing of wild birds…”
I know that most of us aren’t coffee farmers, but if we spend a little more on coffee that is better for us and the birds, the coffee farmers will be able to keep growing Bird-Friendly Coffee, and the birds will always have a home to live in! If you would like to buy bird friendly coffee, you can go to a local store that has it, or go to https://nationalzoo.si.edu/migratory-birds/where-buy-bird-friendly-coffee. If you buy bird friendly coffee from the Smithsonian site, then you can search for exactly what kind of coffee you would like and what farm you are buying from. When you buy bird-friendly coffee you are not only helping birds that you do not know but also birds that come to your feeders and nest in your trees and shrubs. Here are only a few birds that you might see in your yard that migrate to coffee farms: Gray Catbird, Scarlet Tanager, Black-and-white Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Ovenbird, Wood Thrush, Eastern Wood-pewee, Common Yellowthroat… the list goes on and on. You might have thought that the birds you see around you are your birds, but a lot of them migrate to other places, and the Bird Friendly Coffee farmers are there providing a place for the birds to migrate to! A coffee farmer from Honduras said, ”It is our responsibility to maintain a strong habitat for wildlife.”
