Birds and other biodiversity / Know Your Coffee Birds series

Know your coffee birds: Black-throated Blue Warbler

The North American Wood Warblers are known for their colorful beauty. The male Black-throated Blue Warbler (Dendrioca caerulescens, left) is one of the most beautiful. This species is one of the most sexually dimorphic as well — the female is not blue at all — and was not even recognized as the same species until the late 1800s. The pale “hanky” showing on the lower edge of her wing, which matches that of the male, is the only giveaway.

This eastern warbler nests in large forests in the northeastern United States and southern Canada and in higher elevations of the Appalachian Mountains. They spend the winter mostly in the West Indies, as well as along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan, Belize, and Honduras. New techniques using a simple laboratory test of the molecular composition of feathers has revealed that Black-throated Blue Warblers from the northern part of the breeding range winter mostly in Cuba and Jamaica, and birds that nest in the Appalachians winter mostly in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico [1].

A common species in shade coffee ecosystems
Wintering Black-throated Blue Warblers are frequently found on coffee farms, with studies noting them using these plantations in Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Chiapas, Mexico. These studies often note that Black-throated Blue Warblers are one of the most common migrants found on the farms.

While wintering in coffee farms, Black-throated Blue Warblers consume primarily small insects, many of which are coffee pests. In Jamaica, Black-throated Blues were the number one predator recorded on the dreaded coffee berry borer.

Like some other species of wintering migrants, Black-throated Blues tend to segregate themselves by sex on their wintering grounds. Males tend to be found in tall, mature forest habitat, and females in shorter, shrubby habitat. Research has shown that in the Dominican Republic, shade coffee farms had more males than females [3,5], indicating that shade coffee farms were a good substitute for tall forest habitats.

Many bird species return to the same places to nest each year, and some also return to regular wintering areas. Black-throated Blue Warblers are very faithful to their wintering sites [2,3]. In fact, they have a stronger fidelity to their winter territories than their nesting territories, making the health of the habitats on coffee farms critical to their survival [4]. Declines in abundance of breeding populations in the southern Appalachians of over 2% a year the last two decades may be linked to severe habitat degradation in parts of the winter range, particularly Haiti [1] where deforestation is particularly severe.

The Black-throated Blue Warbler’s song is sometimes described as sounding like a buzzy “beer-beer-beer!” From its strong affiliation with shade fincas in the winter, we know what it really means is “coffee-coffee-coffee!”

[1] Rubenstein, D. R., C. P. Chamberlain, R. T. Holmes, M. P. Ayres, J. R. Waldbauer, G. R. Graves and N. C. Tuross. 2002. Linking breeding and wintering ranges of a Neotropical migrant songbird using table isotopes. Science 295: 591-593.

[2] Wunderle, J. M., Jr. 1995. Population characteristics of Black-throated Blue Warblers wintering in three sites in Puerto Rico. Auk 112: 931-946.

[3] Wunderle, J. M., Jr. and S. C. Latta. 2000. Winter site fidelity of nearctic migrants in shade coffee plantations of different sizes in the Dominican Republic. Auk 117: 596-614.

[4] Holmes, R. T. and T. W. Sherry.  1992.  Site fidelity of migratory warblers in temperate breeding and Neotropical wintering areas: Implications for population dynamics, habitat selection, and conservation. pp. 563-575. In: J. M. Hagan III and D. W. Johnston (eds.). Ecology and Conservation of Neotropical Migrant Landbirds. Smithsonian Institution Press.

[5] Wunderle, J. M., Jr. and S. C. Latta. 1996. Avian abundance in sun and shade coffee plantations and remnant pine forest in the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic. Ornithologia Neotropical 7: 19-34.

Top male Black-throated Blue Warbler by Jerry Oldenettel; bottom by Julie Craves.

Certifications / Coffee regions / Smithsonian Bird-Friendly

Bird-friendly Galapagos Island coffee

The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center has just announced that it has certified Hacienda El Cafetal coffee from the Galapagos Islands as Bird-Friendly, the most eco-friendly certification for coffee. Galapagos coffee has been on my “to try” list for quite awhile. SMBC has just given me more impetus to get some and give it a sip.

This is obviously an exotic origin, and the story is interesting. Hacienda El Cafetal is grown on the easternmost Galapagos island, San Cristobal. With around 7,000 people, San Cristobal has the largest population, and is also the only island with fresh water springs. Hacienda El Cafetal grows arabica coffee of the heirloom bourbon variety at the unimpressive altitude of 500 meters. However, the microclimate there offers conditions that are equivalent to 1200 to 1300 meters elsewhere, owing to the cold Humboldt ocean current which sweeps past the islands. Of course, the soils are volcanic on the Galapagos, some of the best for growing coffee.

Coffee was brought to the Galapagos Islands around 1870 — and these are the some of the same trees that are still producing beans. Hacienda El Cafetal covers about 400 ha within the small area — roughly 3% of the entire archipelago — that is not within the boundaries of the national park and thus where agriculture is allowed. As most chemicals are prohibited anywhere in the archipelago, the coffee is certified organic (which is also a required criteria for Bird-Friendly certification).

Hacienda El Cafetal is not the only coffee producer in the Galapagos; coffee  is also grown on the island of Santa Cruz. Typically about 200 metric tons of coffee are produced annually (although not all is specialty-grade), and the legal limit is 300 metric tons. Organic agriculture is an important source of income for island residents, especially as fisheries become depleted, and organic crops help reduce the need to import so much fresh food and minimize the introduction of invasive species that arrive in these shipments. Conservation organizations also hope that diversified organic agriculture can help with native plant restoration. Coffee grown under native shade trees is a perfect fit for this goal. A short article on the sustainability of the coffee industry in the Galapagos is available in the spring 2008 newsletter (pdf) of the Galapagos Conservancy.

Galapagos coffee isn’t too terribly hard to find, but not all of it is great, and it is often a bit expensive. Most is certified organic, but so far Hacienda El Cafetal is the only farm certified Bird-Friendly. Our friends at Barrington Coffee Roasters have carried Hacienda El Cafetal in the past but it is currently out of stock. A Google search for it should turn some up, though. We’ll review it here in the future!

Blends/Multiple / Coffee reviews

Coffee review: BuyWell International Fair Trade Organic coffees

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #40.

BuyWell is a relative new-comer to the sustainable coffee arena, established in Colorado Springs in fall 2007. They focus exclusively on certified organic, Fair Trade coffees. BuyWell purchases Green-e certified renewable energy certificates from 3Degrees
to offset 100% of the electricity used for their entire operation. Further, they support a number of coffee-related charities such as Coffee Kids, Cafe Femenino, and Roots and Wings International.

Roots and Wings was a new one for me — a secular organization working to provide university scholarships in southwest Guatemala. I was impressed with this program; please visit their web site for more on what they do and how you can make a direct donation. You can also do it through coffee purchases: BuyWell donates $3 per bag of coffee sold online when customers type ”RootsAndWings” in the coupon/promotion code.

We tried out several of their coffees.

Nicaragua Picaflor — These beans come from the 100-plus-member Cooperativa 5 de junio, in the the Las Sabanas region of Madriz department (a.k.a., Segovias coffee-growing area), in northern Nicaragua. The coop is part of a larger farmers association,  Aldea Global (AssociaciÁ³n Aldea Global Jinotega), which practices sustainable agriculture and has other Fair Trade products.

In 2006, Cooperativa 5 de junio scored an 84.46 in the Cup of Excellence competition. They grow mostly Caturra and Maracatu at 1200 to 1400 m in “extensive shade.” (Maracatu is a Caturra x Maragogype hybrid.)

The Picaflor is billed as a light roast. I was really pleased to see that “light” meant “light” for BuyWell. A gentle roast is often best for these more delicate Central American beans. A nearly unanimous flavor reported by tasters was “caramel”. There was also some citrus when piping hot, leaning towards orange for one taster. It had a silky mouthfeel, and was my personal favorite of the three coffees. 3.25 motmots.

Guatemala Fuego — These beans are sourced from the NahualÁ¡ cooperative (Cooperativa de Servicios Varios Nahuala) in the Quetzaltenango region of southwest Guatemala near the city of Pasac. Ninety percent of the 126 members are organic, and they also produce organic bananas and honey. The members have been working on a riparian reforestation project as well. The coffee varieties Catuai, Bourbon, and Caturra are grown at 1200 to 1500 m.

This was a medium roast — not too dark for a Central. It had an interesting aroma, which reminded me of American Robins (I know this is odd, but remember, I’m a bird bander, and I’ve handled tens of thousands of birds…some do have distinctive odors), sort of organic and leafy. Having made this rather esoteric comment aloud, a coworker actually agreed with me, in a more generic way: “Yeah, like the apartment I shared with Dale and Edgar the Crow. Sometimes we’d take in a starling or two.” Okay, strange descriptions of what are actually nice smells aside, we also had some consensus on taste, with three people volunteering they got a subtle cherry flavor. Nutty was also mentioned more than once. It had a creamy mouthfeel, also described as “round” and “smooth.” 3 motmots.

Sumatra Canopy — The Canopy coffee is from the Gayo Organic Coffee Farmers Association (Persatuan Petani Kopi Gayo Organik, or PPKGO) near Takengon in Aceh province, Sumatra. This is a big co-op, with nearly 2000 members, and all are organic. The farms are located at between 1100 and 1500 m in the buffer zone to Gunung Leuser National Park. Shade grown coffee in Sumatra is especially important because illegal logging threatens remaining forests, including those in protected areas. The demand for timber has been particularly acute since the 2004 tsunami. PPKGO grows a number of varieties of coffee: Bergendal (they typica variety most often grown in Sumatra), Sidikalang (I presume this is another typica cultivar from the named region near Lake Toba), and the hybrids Catimor and Caturra.

This was a medium-dark roast. It’s been awhile since we’ve reviewed a dark roast, and a long while since we’ve done an Indonesian coffee. The origin was instantly recognizable earth (one person specified loam), leather, pepper or spice, and resin. I liked it much more than I expected I would, given that this isn’t my favorite flavor profile. But the roast was handled correctly, so the characteristic Sumatran taste came through without being all about a “rich” or burnt taste. The score of 2.75 motmots in part reflects one taster who just couldn’t come to grips with an Indonesian coffee; she described it as tasting like “those little hard sesame breadsticks.” I’m going to temper that comment by saying that this coffee will please anybody who does like Indonesian coffees, as it’s probably one of the most approachable I’ve had.

Overall, I was pleased with BuyWell’s selections, the information on their web site, and their commitment to sustainability in their business practices. I was also impressed with the way their roaster handled each bean. I think sometimes working with beans from co-ops, which are likely to vary in quality because they come from so many producers, leads some roasters to over-roast to cover up or even out the impact of the lowest-quality beans. I thought BuyWell honored the origin and the bean and did a really nice job.

You can also check out BuyWell’s blog, Screaming Monkey.

Coffee and the environment

Pesticide resistance in coffee berry borers

The coffee berry borer, or broca (Hypothenemus hampei) is the most serious insect pest of coffee. Originally native to Africa, it has been unintentionally introduced to just about every coffee-producing nation in the world. Female beetles lay 30-50 eggs inside a coffee cherry, which hatch and develop inside. Thus, they damage the cherry and cause defects or the cherry drops off the tree and causes a loss. Economic impact can be substantial.

Nearly the entire life cycle of this very tiny beetle takes place inside the coffee ripening coffee cherry. For that reason, pesticides can be largely ineffective against it. Nonetheless, the neurotoxic organochlorine insecticide endosulfan is widely used in coffee farms to try to fight the borers. Not only is this not very effective, it is bad for the environment, and the life history of these beetles enables them to rapidly develop resistance to endosulfan.

The dangers of endosulfan
Endosulfan is considered highly toxic, and it has been banned in many countries, including the entire European Union. In the U.S., the Fish and Wildlife Service recommended it be banned in 2002, and a number of science and environmental groups continue to pressure the EPA to ban this pesticide (updates on U.S. ban and worldwide phase-out).

Many cases of poisoning of coffee workers by endosulfan in Colombia resulted in a ban in that country in 2001. Endosulfan, to be even marginally effective, requires rather intensive spraying because of the relatively low probability of making contact with borer beetles that are actually outside of a coffee cherry and the high concentration needed for vapor to cause mortality of any beetles that have penetrated the skin of a coffee cherry.

Even when pesticides are banned in developed nations, they may continue to be used for many years in developing countries, such as coffee growing nations. Endosulfan is toxic to insects and animals (including humans) and can persist in the environment. Pesticides are frequently applied in these countries without proper safety precautions. At a recent coffee conference, Ernest Carmen of Costa Rica’s Cafe Cristina said that endosulfan is regulated and considered toxic in Costa Rica, but that it is freely available and indiscriminately applied, even though it is not that effective against broca.

What makes coffee berry borers so able to develop resistance to endosulfan?
Coffee berry borers have an interesting life history that enables them to readily develop pesticide resistance. Most borers are females (13 to each male). All males are flightless, and mate with their sisters because they never leave the cherry in which they are born. This results in genetic inbreeding. When the mutation for endosulfan resistance pops up, it can rapidly spread through a population because of this inbreeding [1,2]. This has already occurred on the island of New Caledonia [3], and would be devastating if (or when) it happens in a mainland coffee producing region.

Alternate solution: promote shade coffee and habitat preservation to control pests!
This study found ground-foraging ants are more common and eat more coffee berry borers in fallen coffee cherries in shade coffee than on sun coffee farms. This one found that coffee farms that had little shade also had fewer beetle species — except they had a much higher abundance of coffee berry borers. And this study showed that at coffee farms which were close to natural habitat patches, migratory birds preyed upon coffee berry borers, enough to bestow a healthy economic benefit to farmers.

New biocontrol methods, especially the role of natural predators associated with shade, is an area that is and will continue to draw more research attention.

[1] Functional haplodiploidy: a mechanism for the spread of insecticide resistance in an important international insect pest. 1995. Brun, L. O., J. Stuart, V. Gaudichon, K. Aronstein, and R. H. Ffrench-Constant. PNAS 92:9861-9865.

[2] Genetic sleuths explain insects’ resistance – Hypothenemus hampei, or coffee berry borer, resistant to pesticide endosulfan due to their genetic makeup and their practice of breeding with siblings. 1995. Science News.

[3] Endosulfan resistance in Hypothenemus hampei (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) in New Caledonia. 1989. Brun, L.O., Marcillaud, C., Gaudichon, V. and Suckling, D.M.Jrl. Econ. Entomol. 82:1311-1316.

Coffee berry borer beetle by Eric Erbe, USDA Agricultural Research Service.