Category: Birds and other biodiversity Page 1 of 5

Male Red Siskin. Photo by Linda De Volder under a Creative Commons license.

Here’s a entry in the occasional Know Your Coffee Bird series, which profiles birds that utilize shade coffee farms. This post is about a species people might not immediately connect with coffee. It is a finch, related to more familiar goldfinches (both American and European), and like them primarily eats seeds and favors a variety of open or semi-open habitats. This is in contrast to the insect- and fruit-eating birds inhabiting tropical forests that we tend to associate with coffee farms. Let’s talk about the endangered Red Siskin (Spinus [formerly Carduelis] cucullatus).

The Red Siskin never had a large range, being primarily found along the northern coast of Venezuela, just edging into Colombia. Once common, populations are now critically fragmented across this area and it is estimated that somewhere between 1500 to 7000 birds (at best) remain in the wild; this includes a relatively recent location found in Guyana. Red Siskins are considered so iconic in Venezuela that they are depicted on the country’s currency. Streets, a park, and even the country’s Little League team is named for them (“cardenalito” in Spanish).

Habitat loss has played a role in the decline of the Red Siskin, but unsustainable trapping for the cage bird trade is a major reason for the near-disappearance of this species. Males are prized for their bright coloration (females are duller) and their ability to mate with the common canary, introducing their red coloration to future generations of canaries. Because Red Siskins can be harder to raise in captivity, wild birds are continually captured to maintain the red genes in canaries — which is actually unnecessary from a genetic standpoint. Although trapping in Venezuela has been illegal for decades, the increasing rarity of these birds, the poverty-inducing economic crisis and political upheaval in Venezuela combine to make illegal trade in the birds lucrative for both greedy poachers and desperate citizens.

In 2015, the Red Siskin Initiative was established among many partner organizations to address the precipitous declines. Strategies include research, captive colonies with the aim to breed siskins for reintroduction, reducing overexploitation, and public education. An important component of this initiative is habitat preservation and income security through coffee farming.

Venezuela once had a thriving coffee industry which was eclipsed by the oil economy and grew out of favor due to government price controls that make coffee farming unprofitable and unsustainable. However, Bird-Friendly coffee certification (which requires organic certification) qualifies the coffee as gourmet, exempt from the price controls, and allows it to be sold at a premium. In addition to organic farming methods, Bird-Friendly certification has requirements regarding shade cover and composition, native tree diversity, and other criteria that provide habitat for birds, including Red Siskins. Partners also provide technical assistance and help producers with capacity-building.

In 2019, nearly 40 farms occupying 165 ha, members of the AsociaciÁ³n Civil de Productores Agroforestales—Piedra de Cachimbo y Florida (ACAFLO), obtained organic certification, with 13 also gaining Bird-Friendly certification. The goal is to expand the certified production area to 400 ha by the end of 2021. Venezuela exports little or no coffee these days, and the situation is dire there. I really hope for the success of this project, and look forward to being able to purchase this coffee to support this great conservation initiative. The establishment of Bird-Friendly certified coffee farms will provide a sustainable livelihood for farmers and preserve habitat for Red Siskins and many other bird and wildlife species.

Pair of Red Siskins. From a plate in Bird Notes, scanned by the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

More reading:

• Saving Red Gold: The International Effort to Rescue Red Siskins (American Bird Conservancy)
• Coffee and Chocolate Could Help Preserve Endangered Birds in Venezuela (Smithsonian Magazine)
• The Red Canary (Tim Birkhead)
• Venezuela: Coffee Annual (2020, USDA)
• From Red Siskin Science, New Paths and Opportunities in Guyana (Smithsonian)

Elfin-woods Warbler. Photos by Mike Morel/USFWS under a Creative Commons license.

It has been awhile since I have posted an entry in the Know Your Coffee Bird series, which profiles birds that utilize shade coffee farms. This post is about a species that was not on my short list for an upcoming account, but has a very special, recently defined connection to coffee.

The Elfin-woods Warbler (Setophaga angelae) is one of over 100 species of warblers found in the New World, and is only found in Puerto Rico. Discovered and described less than 50 years ago, it is named for a unique habitat it favors — elfin woods. High humidity and rainfall, strong winds, and nutrient-poor soils result in the short, often twisted trees (dominated by only a few species) that are characteristic of these forests, found between 750-850 meters. More recently, the warbler has also adapted to lower wet forests at 600-900 meters. This bird may have eluded discovery for so long due to being very similar in appearance to another species I have profiled as a coffee bird, the Black-and-white Warbler, which nests in North America but winters in Puerto Rico.

The Elfin-woods Warbler was likely always rare, and it was proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act in 1982. Habitat loss and degradation due to development, agriculture, and hurricanes are among the factors that drove population declines in the following decades. The current estimate is fewer than 2000 individuals in two populations: in the El Yunque National Forest in the eastern part of the island, and in Maricao Commonwealth Forest and adjacent private lands in the west. Part of the latter is an Important Bird Area designated by BirdLife International.

Earlier this month, after years of languishing as a candidate, the warbler was finally designated as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Elfin-woods Warbler. Photos by Mike Morel/USFWS under a Creative Commons license.

When a species is afforded protected status under the Act, “critical habitat” is designated. These are areas that are essential to conservation and which may require special management efforts. Critical habitat for the Elfin-woods Warbler is largely public land, but does contain private holdings including coffee farms and potential coffee-growing land adjacent to the Maricao Commonwealth Forest. The warblers have been detected in shade coffee plantations, but not in sun coffee farms. Thus, in the critical habitat areas, conversion of shade coffee to sun coffee will be prohibited. Conversely, the planting of shade trees on sun coffee farms is encouraged. Provisions for coffee growers in this area also allow for pruning of shade and coffee trees, but only outside of the nesting season. Herbicides and pesticides may be used, but only during the first two years or so while the coffee and shade trees are becoming established (a time in which the warblers are not likely to use the farm).

Previous research has indicated that much of Puerto Rico’s coffee is not grown under shade, but that farmers are willing to convert to shade if they were encouraged to do so by incentives such as being supplied with shade trees to plant.  Since 2010, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has been working on habitat restoration initiatives in the Maricao coffee growing area through the Partners for Fish and Wildlife program. This has included technical and financial assistance to landowners to establish and restore shade coffee.  The listing of the Elfin-woods Warbler will likely provide more incentive and opportunity for farmers to create and enhance shade coffee, to the benefit of this interesting bird and other biodiversity associated with its habitats.

Read more:

• Birdwatching Magazine: Elfin-woods Warbler added to endangered species list
• Courthouse News Service: Warbler’s listing cuts coffee growers a break
• Federal Register: USFWS ruling and details on listing
• Federal Register: Portion of ruling that outlines measures impacting coffee farms
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service: Info on initiatives to provide aid to coffee farmers to plant shade trees
• Cafiesencia: Puerto Rican non-profit with many rural community projects, often focusing on coffee-growing communities; projects include assisting landowners with forest management plans in the Maricao area for the benefit of birds, biodiversity, and farmers.

I have yet to meet someone who has seen an American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) who was not charmed by this bright, energetic little bird. Redstarts are warblers, but like many New World birds bear the name of similar-appearing (though unrelated) Old World birds. In this case, the original redstarts are flycatchers that often have patterns in black and red. Likewise, male American Redstarts that are at least two years old are jet black and vivid orange. Younger males and female American Redstarts are gray and salmon or yellow, but no less beautiful.

American Redstarts breed across much of eastern North America and western Canada, and winter in the West Indies, southern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. Like other warblers, they feed primarily on insects, and may flush them from foliage by spreading and flashing their tails. This has earned them several other names, particularly in the tropics, including candelita (“little candle” or “little flame”) or mariposas (the same word used for butterflies).

In winter, redstarts can be found in a variety of forested habitats. They are particularly well-studied in the West Indies, where they are most often found in mangroves, coastal scrub, and shade coffee. In Jamaica, redstarts have been found to greatly benefit coffee farmers by providing pest control, especially against the hard-to-control coffee berry borer, one of coffee’s most dreaded pests. To reap these benefits, however, farmers needed to provide habitat for the birds, either via shade trees or adjacent forest patches. Another vote for shade-grown coffee!

In the Dominican Republic, redstarts returned annually and stayed put overwinter on shade coffee farms at rates similar to natural forest [1]. Other studies have specifically documented shade coffee use by redstarts in Mexico, Venezuela, and Guatemala; and I have recorded them myself in coffeelands in Panama and Honduras.

A recently published paper [2] presented data on a very rigorous study of wintering migrant birds in Puerto Rico that began in 1973, in which American Redstarts are among the three most common species (the other two are also “coffee birds”: Ovenbird and Black-and-white Warbler). All three species have shown population declines, even though overwinter survivorship has remained the same for the birds that do winter there. The most dramatic declines have occurred over the last decade, but the authors cannot pinpoint an explanation. They concluded with words seldom found in academic publications:

“Given the patterns shown by our data, we now join with those who earlier proclaimed that ‘the sky is falling’ for Neotropical migratory birds, even though we lack a ready explanation for these declines.”

Please see this as a call to action. This is one of many studies that have documented the loss of migratory bird species. These “birds of two worlds” have very complex life cycles, and many things impact their survival. Some of these factors are within our control, and they include habitat loss due to agriculture — such as coffee.  You can help by choosing your coffee carefully and being willing to pay more for organic and eco-certified coffee that encourages the preservation of habitat and enhancement of coffee farms with shade trees. Seldom is so simple an individual action apt to lead to such positive results for redstarts, other warblers, and the biodiversity and health of our planet.

See more in the ”Know your coffee birds” series.

Photo of male redstart by Laura Gooch under a Creative Commons license; female redstart banded at the Rouge River Bird Observatory by Julie Craves, all rights reserved.

[1] Wunderle, J and SC Latta. 2000. Winter site fidelity of Nearctic migrants in shade coffee plantations of different sizes in the Dominican Republic. Auk 117:596-614.

[2] Faaborg J, WJ Arendt, J D Toms, KM Dugger, WA Cox and MC Mora. 2013. Long-term decline of a winter-resident bird community in Puerto Rico. Biodiversity and Conservation 22:63-75.

The Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapillus) is often heard before it is seen, a loud ringing “tea-cher, TEA-cher, TEA-CHER!” broadcast from close to the forest floor through much of the eastern U.S. and Canada during the nesting season. Ovenbirds are large warblers, no relation to the Ovenbird family Furnariidae found in the tropics. However, both the warbler and the family share a basic brown color palette, and are named for their curious domed, Dutch oven-like nests which, in the case of the warbler, are build on the ground.

Ovenbirds winter primarily in the Caribbean and Central America. There, they forage on or close to the ground, where much of their diet is comprised of ants. This habit of scratching and leaf-flicking on the forest floor has earned them the name “Betsy Kick-up” in Jamaica! Ovenbirds are frequently found in shade coffee plantations, where they may also feed on female coffee berry borers that are laying eggs in fallen coffee cherries, thus performing a great service to coffee farmers.

Migrant (and resident) bird species have been monitored in Puerto Rico since 1973 in a study where Ovenbirds have been one of the most common species. Their numbers have declined to less than 20% of their original abundance. Some of the declines are related to variable rainfall patterns (which will be exacerbated by climate change), and some to conditions on their breeding grounds (see below). But similar declines in resident Puerto Rican birds in the same study indicate there are undiscovered factors occurring on the wintering grounds as well.

On their North American breeding grounds, Ovenbirds need large forests to breed in, and habitat loss and fragmentation has taken its toll. Even in large forests in northern regions, declines in reproductive success are tied to, believe it or not, earthworms.

Due to the last glaciation, Canada, the upper Midwest, and New England have no native earthworms — all of the worms are introduced. Their efficient consumption of leaf litter on the forest floor has greatly altered many forests. Plants that require a thick organic layer in some forests have declined, leaving less cover for Ovenbird nests, which then fall to predators. Ovenbirds also rely on the insects and invertebrates that live in leaf litter, which are also far less abundant in habitats invaded by non-native worms. These factors are thought to be driving declines in some breeding populations of Ovenbirds.

Ovenbirds found on shade coffee farms help farmers by eating pests, and have found safe haven in winter. Choosing shade-grown coffee can help support populations of this charismatic songbird so that future generations can enjoy its distinctive summer song.

More coffee birds here.

Ovenbird photo by Julie Craves, all rights reserved. Banded by the Rouge River Bird Observatory, Dearborn, MI.

Western Ghats in pink and purple; purple portion is approximate range of Malabar Barbet.

The Malabar Barbet (Megalaima malabarica) is a bird that is endemic to India. Once considered a subspecies of Crimson-fronted Barbet, Megalaima rubricapillus, which has a broader range, the Malabar Barbet is found in only the Western Ghats from Goa south to Kerala and western Tamil Nadu. There, it inhabits evergreen and moist deciduous forests, generally below 1200 m, and is often found in high quality shade coffee plantations.

Coffee plantations cover about 6% (around 830,000 ha) in the Western Ghats, and while all the coffee is grown under shade, the quality of the shade varies. A diverse mix of native shade trees is the highest quality, and it has been found that these types of farms have similar diversity of birds and other wildlife as is found in nearby forests — the same situation is true in Latin America. However, various laws and restrictions on cutting native trees (which could provide value to wildlife and as harvestable timber, for example) are much more strict in India. This, in part, has led to the widespread planting of silver or silky oak (Grevillea robusta), a fast-growing tree native to Australia.

Although Grevillea has flowers that can be attractive to nectar-feeding birds, it does not have fleshy fruit, important to many birds. Because it is harvested for timber, the areas where it is planted are subject to periodic disturbance and alteration. One study* found that in shade coffee farms in the Ghats, an increase in the proportion of silver oak from 33% to 55% was associated with 91% reduction in the abundance of the Malabar Barbet. This is more evidence that certifications that merely require shade as a percent of canopy cover will not help enhance or preserve biodiversity — “shade” certification should also include a mix of shade tree species and a requirement that a percentage of them be native species.

Barbets in general are small-to-medium, stout birds with short tails, big heads, and strong, thick bills. They are found all over the world in tropical regions. Barbets eat primarily fruit, and Malabar Barbets, like many other species, forage in the forest canopy (perhaps one reason there are few good photos of this species!). Ficus trees and their fruits are especially important. While many small fruit-eating birds swallow fruits whole, Malabar Barbets will also sit and pick on fruits too large to swallow. Ficus are often used as shade trees in shade coffee farms in India.

Barbets are related to woodpeckers, and like them nest in tree holes. Malabar Barbets typically use holes that they excavate themselves which are located on the underside of small branches, where they raise one or two young per nest. Thus, it is important for them to have trees with dead branches in their territories for nesting — something that isn’t too typical on a shade coffee farm where Grevillea is harvested.

There are nearly many species of birds found only in the Western Ghats. A number of them use shade coffee farms either directly, or as corridors that connect more suitable forest habitat.

Photo of the Malabar Barbet taken in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala, by Sandeep Gangadharan under a Creative Commons license.

*Anand, O. M., J. Krishnaswamy, and A. Das. 2008. Proximity to forests drives bird conservation value of coffee plantations: implications for certification. Ecological Applications 18:1754-1763.

Many birders have a “spark bird,” a species that captured their attention and inspired lifelong interest in birds. For me, it was the Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea). As a young girl I was given a copy of The Bird Guide: Land Birds East of the Rockies by an elderly neighbor, a vintage book even back then. In studying the illustrations, I could not believe that a bird as bright and stunning as the Scarlet Tanager could be found in Michigan; if so, it surely could not be as brilliant as the book portrayed. It was some years before I finally saw a male Scarlet Tanager, as they tend to be canopy dwellers. I have handled and seen countless others since then. Each time, like the first, I still marvel at their brilliance.

I banded this male Scarlet Tanager at the Rouge River Bird Observatory in Dearborn, Michigan.

There are over 240 species of tanagers in the New World, and frankly they include some of the world’s most beautiful birds. They are really a tropical family, with only four species having evolved to migrate to North America to breed (a fifth is a rare breeder in the deep southwest). All of them retreat to the tropics to spend the winter.

The Scarlet Tanager breeds in large, mature, deciduous forest tracts over much of the eastern U.S. and southern Canada, save for the deep south, and spends the winter in northwestern South America, where they are most common in Ecuador, Bolivia, and the Peruvian Andes. During the nesting season, Scarlet Tanagers prefer to utilize the interior of large tracts of forest. Their sensitivity to fragmented habitats categorizes them as an “area sensitive” species. In small or fragmented woodlots, they suffer from predators and parasitism by cowbirds (which lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species, usually at the expense of their hosts). If a forest is too small (<10 ha), the tanagers will not attempt to nest at all.

Female and young Scarlet Tanagers are much more modestly colored than breeding males. In winter, males look similar to females, but with darker wings.

After their breeding season, the tanagers molt into their more somber winter plumage. The males go from scarlet to  bright olive with black wings. Females are a duller olive with dusky wings — the same color they are year round. This change from eye-catching to cryptic coloration is not unusual. Flashy colors are good ways to advertise for mates and let other birds know a territory is occupied, but are a little too conspicuous to predators the rest of the year. For North American migrant birds that share their wintering areas with many year-round resident birds in the tropics, it’s probably also a good strategy to be a little more modest.

Few species of North American migrant birds make it as far south in winter as the Scarlet Tanager. Their habits during winter are not well known, as they tend to be inconspicuous and spend most of their time in the canopy. While in the breeding season, Scarlet Tanagers eat insects almost exclusively, they also eat fruit in the winter.  They have been recorded on shade coffee farms in Central America (Panama and Nicaragua) during migration, as well as in winter. As canopy dwellers, they utilize the shade trees and do not find sun coffee appropriate habitat.

Two of the other North American breeding tanagers, Western Tanager (P. ludoviciana) and Summer Tanager (P. rubra) are also found on shade coffee farms.

Perhaps few North American breeding birds remind us so strongly that they are not really “our” birds, but tropical species on loan for a few short months in the summer. When we contemplate that fact, it reminds us that habitat on the wintering grounds — such as shade coffee farms — are truly critical for their survival. Support shade-grown coffee, so that future generations can open a field guide, become inspired by a vivid tanager, and discover that they really do exist.

Female-plumaged tanager photo by Jamie Chavez under a Creative Commons license.

Black-crowned Palm-Tanager. Photo by Pat Johnson, taken during field work he performed with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. VCE has done incredible work in Hispaniola.

There are two species of palm-tanagers (Phaenicophilus) found on Hispaniola, the island comprised of the Dominican Republic (DR) and Haiti.  One is the widespread Black-crowned Palm-Tanager (P. palmarum). The other is the only species of bird unique to Haiti: the Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager (P. poliocephalus). The latter is restricted primarily to the Tiburon Peninsula, the long arm of land in that forms the southeast coastline of the island, where it replaces the Black-crowned. At one time, the peninsula was separated from the rest of the island by the sea, allowing many endemic species to evolve. It is believed this is when the Black-crowned and Gray-crowned Palm-Tanagers diverged into two species. The two species are similar, with the Gray-crowned having (as you may have guessed) a gray rather than black crown, less white on the throat, and some smaller physical features.

Both of these resident species will use many kinds of forest habitats, from humid deciduous to pine, from sea level to upper montane elevations over 2000 meters. They will also use well-vegetated gardens and farms. In many regions, this adaptability would provide the birds with some habitat security. However, deforestation has been so severe on Hispaniola that in many places wooded areas, including agroforests, are so fragmented, degraded, or just plain uncommon that many forest bird species are struggling. The situation is particularly precarious in Haiti, where it is estimated that only 1.5% of the original forested areas survive.

The palm-tanagers forage on insects, often found in dead leaves or under bark, and some fruit. During the non-breeding season, Black-crowned Palm-Tanagers are typically found alone or in pairs, while Gray-crowned Palm-Tanagers are often found in groups of four to six birds.

Portrait of a Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager on a Haitian postage stamp.

Gray-crowned Palm-Tanagers (known locally as “Kat Je Sid” or “Cuatro Ojos”) really deserve special mention. They are locally common on the Tiburon Peninsula, especially in Pic Macaya National Park — little is known about their current status outside this tenuously-protected area. In fact, recent research has not revealed conclusive evidence that they occur east of a line extending south from Port-a-Prince, but historical reports indicate that their range may extend closer to the DR border.

A combination of reforestation and agroforestry crops such as shade coffee would certainly facilitate the conservation of this species. Coffee is produced in the Pic Macaya region. At one point it was roasted and sold by Barrington Coffee Roasting (see our review), Irving Farm Coffee, and Wicked Joe, but I could not find it available at the time of this writing.

However, shade coffee is currently being produced and exported by the Cooparative des Planteurs de Café de l’Arrondissement de Belle-Anse (COOPCAB) based in Thiotte, close to the DR border. This is a group of seven cooperatives representing 5000+ members. It is typica coffee grown at 1300-1350 m in mixed pine forest near Gras Cheval, north of Thiotte, and is usually branded as Blue Forest coffee. It is being most widely promoted and distributed by La Colombe Torrefaction. La Colombe is assisting COOPCAB in getting Rainforest Alliance certification.

The pine forests are critical for endangered Hispaniolan Crossbill, Loxia megaplaga, an island endemic. This bird, once considered a subspecies of the White-winged Crossbill of northern coniferous forests, feeds exclusively on the seeds of Hispaniolan pine (Pinus occidentalis). Forested areas in Haiti and the DR are also essential to North American migrant birds, especially the rare Bicknell’s Thrush. Birds do not represent the only important or unique species that rely on Haiti’s dwindling habitats. The country is host to many other endemic species, including one of the smallest frogs in the world.

The importance of income-producing, habitat-restoring agriculture to Hispaniola’s people, flora, and fauna cannot be underestimated. Given its history and potential, shade coffee is an excellent candidate.

Learn more:

• Coffee growing on Hispaniola, here at Coffee & Conservation. Coffee review links included.
• The Plight of Haiti’s Cloud Forest Birds. Birdscope, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
• In Search of Haiti’s Birds. Living Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
• Vermont Center for Ecostudies Hispaniolan Bird Conservation and Haiti Protected Areas Conservation research.
• Important Bird Areas in Haiti (PDF). BirdLife International.
• Audubon Society Haiti.

Literature:

McDonald, M. A., and M. H. Smith. 1994.  Behavioral and morphological correlates of heterochrony in Hipaniolan Palm-Tanagers.  Condor 96: 433-446.

Sly, N. D., Townsend,  A. K., Rimmer, C. C., Townsend, J. M., Latta, S., and I. J. Lovette. 2010. Phylogeography and conservation genetics of the Hispaniolan endemic Palm-tanagers (Aves: Phaenicophilus). Conservation Genetics 11: 2121-2129.

Rimmer, C. C., Townsend, J. M., Townsend, A. K., Fernandez, E. M., and J. Alamonte. 2005. Avian diversity, abundance, and conservation status in the Macaya Biosphere Reserve of Haita. Ornithologia Neotropical 16:219-230.

Townsend, J. M. 2009. Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager (Phaenicophilus poliocephalus), Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Ed). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; retrieved from Neotropical Birds Online: http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/species/overview?p_p_spp=46132