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Changes in farming methods in the coffee plantations of Latin America
threaten to leave many species of migratory birds without a suitable place
to spend the winter. When the hill forests were cleared for agriculture,
many migratory birds took refuge in coffee plantations, where trees were
left to shade the coffee bushes. But a trend towards growing coffee in direct
sunlight now threatens them.

In an attempt to prevent the decline of these species, Russell Greenberg
of the Smithsonian Institution’s Migratory Bird Center in Washington DC,
is trying to convince coffee companies to market a ‘bird-friendly’ brand
of coffee, grown only on shaded plantations.

Four years ago, Greenberg and several colleagues calculated that populations
of North American birds that winter in the Caribbean and Latin America
were declining by 1 per cent a year – mainly because their habitat was
disappearing. Greenberg’s research team set out to determine which types
of agricultural land would serve as habitats for birds.

They found that coffee and cocoa plantations, along with other cultivated
wooded areas such as acacia plantations, are the only habitats left for
many birds in some areas of Central America, the Caribbean and Colombia.
Almost half the permanent cropland in these countries consists of coffee
plantations.

Over the past two years, Greenberg and his colleagues have counted more
than 180 species of bird on traditional ‘shade’ coffee plantations in the
Ocosingo area of the state of Chiapas, Mexico. Many coffee growers there
are indigenous Maya Indians who have small ‘rustic’ plantations, shaded
by the only remaining pockets of original forest in the area. Other growers
provide shade by planting new trees.

Both new and old forest on coffee plantations provide refuges for migratory
birds and local birds. Among the migratory birds the team spotted were American
redstarts, black-throated green warblers, solitary vireos and Baltimore
orioles. Year-round residents include parrots and toucans.

However, an increasing number of coffee growers in many countries, including
Costa Rica and Colombia, have cut down the trees to grow ‘sun’ coffee. Coffee
grown in full sun produces higher yields, at least initially. But it also
requires more weeding, and more chemical fertilisers and pesticides. In
contrast, shade trees help to fix nitrogen in the soil, prevent erosion,
contribute natural mulch, and provide habitat for forest animals.

The bird study was ‘rudely interrupted’ in January during the uprising
in Chiapas, says Greenberg. One of his colleagues was mistaken for a rebel
leader by the Mexican secret police, who confiscated the computer discs
from the bird project. ‘The police thought they were the war plans,’ says
Greenberg. Luckily, the researcher had buried a copy of the data.

Greenberg believes that ‘there is a growing constituency of people,
mostly bird-watchers, who want to do something for migratory birds but they
don’t know what to do’. Many have called the Migratory Bird Center to ask
where they can buy bird-friendly coffee. The answer is nowhere – yet. But
the most fashionable purveyor of upmarket, speciality coffees in the US,
Starbucks of Seattle, has given Greenberg’s proposal a ‘polite’ reception.

Although it is not labelled bird-friendly, much of the coffee consumed
in the US is still grown on shaded coffee plantations. Greenberg’s first
goal is simply to identify ‘shade’ coffee as such so that consumers can
choose bird-friendly brands. This should give coffee importers an incentive
to buy from growers on traditional plantations. ‘We should be paying people
more to grow coffee in an ecologically correct way,’ says Greenberg.