Eat and Drink for the Birds

“Our” Birds Aren’t Just Ours

Did you know that many of the birds we enjoy here in Pennsylvania aren’t really “our” birds? Songbirds such as Scarlet Tanagers, Baltimore Orioles, and almost all of the warblers, along with many of the birds of prey and members of other groups such as shorebirds, head south in the fall. A lot of ”our” birds winter in Mexico or Central or South America. In fact, they may spend more time in those places, and traveling to and from them, than they do here. So, they’re only “ours” in that they are our cherished summer visitors. The quality of the habitat on the wintering grounds affects whether they return to us safe and healthy each year.

Our Consumption Habits Affect Them!

Many factors can affect the quality of habitat on the wintering grounds (just as they do here), such as use of pesticides and extraction of minerals. The role of native plants and native habitat vs. altered landscapes is also very important, just as it is here. So not only the plants we offer them here in Pennsylvania matter, but also the plants the birds find south of our borders greatly matter too.

When our birds arrive down south, they need healthy, intact, food-rich native habitats. Agricultural practices can destroy or degrade forests and other habitats, leaving birds struggling with poor resources. Because a lot of the plants grown on their wintering grounds are consumed in the US, what we choose to buy in Pennsylvania can have a big impact on the quality of the habitat down there.

Do You Drink Coffee?

This blog has addressed coffee before with an interview with one of the founders of the Bird Friendly Coffee Coalition. The topic is worthy of further attention. That’s because much of our coffee comes from exactly the places where our birds winter—Mexico and Central and South America.

Coffee beans were first brought into cultivation from Ethiopia, where they grew in shady mountainous forests. Coffee production eventually spread globally to regions including India and the New World. By the 1960s, breeders had developed sun-tolerant varieties that could be planted more densely and harvested more efficiently by eliminating the forest around them. Besides habitat destruction, sun-grown coffee requires more pesticides since it is a monoculture that lacks the natural pest controls of a more diverse environment. You can imagine what all this does to birds and other wildlife that depend on those forests.

Now, however, there is a movement to bring back shade-grown coffee to preserve the biodiversity of the lands and all the creatures that live on them. One of the authors of this article (Malt) went birding in Veracruz, Mexico in 2022 and visited a coffee plantation that grows some traditional sun-grown coffee but has also moved into shade-grown. The habitat contrast was stark. Take a look at these pictures! Can you imagine any birds (or butterflies, or other creatures) living in the sun-grown field? You wouldn’t even think of going birding there; it’s obvious you wouldn’t find much. Compare to the shade-grown area, which was full of wonderful birds.

How to Support Shade-Grown Coffee

Look for coffee that specifically says “shade-grown.” Many brands now market themselves as organic or fair trade. That’s great—it means they aren’t poisoning the earth with noxious chemicals and are paying a decent price to their growers—but it does NOT mean the coffee is shade-grown. Only coffee that says “shade-grown” is.

There are several certification programs for shade-grown coffee. The Smithsonian Institution certification is the most rigorous (requiring the best habitat and practices). Look for this logo:

You can use the Smithsonian’s online tool to find where the coffees they certify are sold. After using their search tool or any other one, it’s best to call ahead to a store or café you’re interested in to be sure they still carry the shade-grown product you want. Sometimes places no longer carry products that a search tool says they do. Note, there may also be shade-grown options that the search tools don’t know about; we discovered some while doing research for this article. As of this writing in late May of 2026, the information below is all up to date.

Also please bear in mind that any type of shade-grown is better than sun-grown, as long as it is certified by a reputable organization. Below are a few Pennsylvania places where you can go in person to buy shade-grown coffee beans. There are even more places than the ones listed, so explore your region, especially if you just want to try a single cup at first—there are cafés, bakeries, and restaurants that will happily serve you a shade-grown cup but do not sell the beans themselves. Outlets that offer online options are noted.

You can check with Wild Birds Unlimited Stores in other parts of our state; some carry shade-grown beans. In addition, Birds & Beans, a brand of Smithsonian-certified coffee, offers online sales and also has a search tool showing where you can buy their beans at outlets throughout the U.S.

Costco also sells a shade-grown, organic coffee under the brand name “Ruta Maya.” Unlike most Smithsonian-certified Bird Friendly coffee beans, Costco’s are not certified as fair trade. Costco asserts, “By working directly with farmers and avoiding third-party brokers, we’re able to pay farmers above-market prices, ensuring they receive more than they would through conventional Fair-Trade channels.”

Yes, shade-grown is more expensive than a regular supermarket brand. But the flavor is good, and you probably donate money outright for conservation, so why not spend a little extra on your coffee to support nature and enjoy your cup of coffee at the same time?

For Chocolate Lovers

Some of us are more attached to chocolate than to coffee. Cacao (the beans from which chocolate is made) has been on a parallel path to coffee. Originating under forest cover over 5,000 years ago in what is now Ecuador, its cultivation spread northward. Cacao became the principal ingredient in a highly valued and sacred drink in Mesoamerican societies.

By the 1970s cacao had been bred to grow in open conditions that destroy habitat and require more chemicals. Most of the world’s cacao is now grown in West Africa, and the vast majority of that is grown without shade.

In the New World, the top producer is Ecuador, with 10% of world production. Although the market for shade-grown chocolate is still in its infancy, since the 1990s hundreds of small-scale farmers in Ecuador have returned to traditional shade growing; now 90% of Ecuador’s cacao, which is highly prized among high-end chocolatiers for its depth and complex flavors, is shade-grown. This supports Ecuador’s astonishing, fragile biodiversity—and some of “our” Canada, Blackburnian, and Tennessee Warblers, American Redstarts, Scarlet Tanagers, Merlins, Blue-winged Teals, American Golden-Plovers, and Swainson’s and Gray-cheeked Thrushes.

Like coffee, shade-grown chocolate also tends to be expensive but of high quality. Some brands, such as Alter-Eco, Raaka, and Coracao have farming systems that combine agriculture with substantial forestry across their supply chains for at least some of their products. They are sold at retail locations within our state as well as offering online sales. Shade-grown chocolate bars are also available from the Ecuadorian company Paccari (previously spelled Pacari; learn about their sustainability here and note that their “leather” box is not real leather). In addition, the British company Green & Black’s sells shade-grown chocolate. Though previously more available at stores in the U.S., these latter two brands are now available almost exclusively online.

For further information about shade-grown cacao, you can visit the Smithsonian Institution’s Bird-Friendly Cocoa site.

Whenever you buy shade-grown chocolate, you are sending a market signal to the entire cacao supply chain that the way your chocolate is grown matters to you. You’re letting the market know that you want production of your chocolate to protect birds from the many threats they face, rather than having cacao production harm them. This is a very important step for stimulating shade-grown cacao farming.

The same applies to the purchase of shade-grown coffee. The more you buy these products instead of the sun-drenched versions, the more you are holding out hope for our migratory birds. You are literally putting your money where your mouth is—and where your binoculars are!

For Tea Lovers

The overwhelming majority of tea is not grown in the Western Hemisphere, so its production does not directly affect New World birds. But growing crops in vast sunny fields adds much more to the greenhouse effect when compared with methods that combine agriculture with at least some forestry. So indirectly, the way tea is grown in the Old World does matter for “our” birds, since sun-soaked tea contributes to climate change.

Besides, the Old World birds directly impacted by tea production matter too! They are beautiful and just as important to their eco-systems as our birds are to our natural environments.

So choosing tea grown through agro-forestry methods is an excellent idea. Click here for our explainer about what does and doesn’t count as shade-grown tea from the point of view of a bird, and where you can buy the right kind.

Barbara Malt, President of the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society and PA Master Naturalist, and Christine M. Du Bois, editor of Bird Beat and food anthropologist

Photo credits:

Sun-grown coffee by Barbara Malt, used with permission.

Shade-grown coffee by Barbara Malt, used with permission.

Smithsonian Bird Friendly logo, used with permission.

Canada Warbler, by Jeff Kaboly, used with permission.