A couple of days ago, in an informative post about Western Tanagers, Bill Whan mentioned that their main wintering range was in Mexico and Central America, and suggested that many of their wintering areas had been wiped out by coffee plantations. This is a subject of some interest to me, since I've spent more than 30 months in the field in Mexico and Central America, most of it in winter, and have paid close attention to the wintering habitats of migrants from North America. I wasn't going to comment, but then someone asked me privately whether I thought we should all give up coffee to save migratory birds. This gives me a chance to mention an important conservation issue -- one that's familiar to many on this list (including Bill, of course) but apparently will be new to some. In fact, I've seen hundreds of Western Tanagers in coffee plantations -- as well as large numbers of Nashville Warblers, Black-throated Green Warblers, Wilson's Warblers, Baltimore Orioles, and many other migrants, plus many native tropical birds. In fact, we often make a point of going to coffee plantations for the excellent birding there. The trick is that it has to be the right kind of coffee. Traditionally coffee was grown in the shade, and the easiest way to establish a plantation was to clear out the undergrowth in native subtropical forest and plant the coffee bushes among the existing trees. The plantations, tended by hand, required little in the way of fertilizers, pesticides, or other chemicals, and much of the diversity of the original forest remained intact (not all of the diversity, of course, but most of it). Unfortunately, new strains of coffee were developed that could be grown in full sun. These sun coffee plantations can be run as large operations and can sell coffee more cheaply for a higher profit, but they are practically biological deserts, doused in chemicals and supporting fewer birds than the average parking lot. It's still possible to buy coffee grown in the shade. And if more people demanded this type, there would be less pressure to clear out the traditional plantations and replace them with sun coffee monocultures. Shade coffee costs a little more, but Kim and I always buy it, ask for it in restaurants, etc., as a small way of trying to protect migratory birds. Shade coffee is available at many wild bird specialty shops, nature centers, etc., including the shop of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, and it's also possible to buy it by mail or online. The latest issue of Bird Watcher's Digest (November-December 2006) has an excellent article by Paul Baicich about shade-grown coffee. You can also find information online. Enter "shade coffee migratory birds" in any search engine and you'll get a variety of worthwhile sources, including the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, which has paid a lot of attention to this subject. Best wishes to all who are looking for (or at) the Western Tanager this week, and if you decide to warm up afterwards with a cup of coffee, think about making it shade-grown coffee. If all birders took up this cause, we could make a difference for bird habitat. Kenn Kaufman Rocky Ridge, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]