Is Your Coffee Killing Birds?

Coffee drinkers - are you enjoying your daily java at the expense of the habitat of millions of song birds?

Coffee growers in Central and South America are destroying forests to plant a new variety of coffee bush. This is leaving migratory birds without a southern home, and possibly contributing to their demise.

A trend toward growing a new variety of coffee bush, called Robusta, rather than the traditionally grown Arabica variety is to blame. Arabica coffee is grown in shade, beneath the canopy of established forests. The new Robusta variety requires full sunlight, which means that in order to grow it, the forests that migratory song birds call home must be destroyed.

Those who are concerned about this should look for - and start requesting - "bird friendly, shade-grown" coffee.

See this site for more information about the many bird species that are affected. http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/shadecoffee.html