Shade Grown Birds

The view from Finca Lerida in Panama.

As many of you have heard, shade grown coffee is the best type of coffee for birds. Not that they drink much of it, though if you've ever watched a Warbler, you might begin to wonder. No, it's the environment that shade grown protects that helps our friends.

A Collared Redstart near Volcan Baru in Panama.

Chestnut-sided Warbler at Crane Creek, Ohio.

Laurie-loo and I took a trip to Panama in 2005, our first big bird trip together. Our guide Hernan Arauz, definitely the best guide in Panama, took us to two Fincas, or farms, to show us the difference shade grown can make in the environment. The best tasting coffee is grown this way, though the big coffee companies put profits ahead of helping the world.

A very loud Three-wattled Bellbird at Finca Lerida in Panama.

We saw a number of Warblers and other birds that rely on this habitat to survive. Without our help, they won't survive long enough to migrate to visit us and make our lives a little brighter.

Though this shot was taken in San Diego, we also saw the Acorn Woodpecker at a Finca in Panama.

There are so many birds that rely on us and the proper habitat to survive in this very difficult world. As you've seen by the photos I have on this blog of Warblers, Hummingbirds and more, without the right trees, flowers and shrubs, they could be gone.

The Western Cuyahoga Audubon Society sells Audubon brand shade grown coffee at their meetings and events and I'm sure other chapters do also. A growing number of grocery stores across the world are getting on the band wagon and devoting space on their shelves for these fine product as well.

If you truly enjoy watching birds as they fly through our lives, please help a little bit by supporting shade grown coffee. On behalf of the birds, thank you.