The Green Room

David Pritchard of Birds and Beans Inc. in Toronto, ON writes:

Thank you for including information about the importance of buying Bird Friendly® coffee in your November update . We are encouraged by your interest in the subject, however it is important to correct your use of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center’s Bird Friendly® trademark.

If we are to have any hope of saving our migratory bird populations, it is essential that consumers come to understand the environmental impact of their buying decisions.  Unfortunately, according to the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC), not all coffee sold as shade coffee is actually providing habitat to our migrating birds.

The SMBC created the Bird Friendly certification in order to allow consumers to be certain that the shade on certified coffee farms is providing homes for our migratory birds and other wildlife. They developed their certification criteria based on scientific study that includes an underlying organic certification and diverse shade conditions. Their research shows that not all shade provides good habitat.

We at Birds and Beans specialize in Bird Friendly® coffees. We are the only roaster in Canada that actively sells and promotes certified Bird Friendly Coffee. We offer the widest selection of shade grown coffees in Canada and are currently working with a group of coffee roasters in the USA to form a collective that will promote certified Bird Friendly coffee in Canada and the USA.

Meantime, here’s a list of roasters and retailers of certified Bird Friendly coffees and more detailed information about the Bird Friendly Coffee program.

Lindsay responds:

We really appreciate your effort to bring some additional clarity around coffee labeling. Our readership is becoming increasingly savvy about their consumer choices and we really enjoy the opportunity to bring them along.

Definitely in the future we can elaborate on the layers and layers of information around topics such as the Bird Friendly Coffee. In the issue you’re referencing we used the expertise of the Boreal Birds Initiative as well as doing some research of our own. Of course, you can never capture it all but this is a great way to learn.

Penelope Adams writes:

I am trying very hard to feed birds in my back yard. A good friend who lives outside Nanaimo found a Northern Pygmy Owl on his patio after the poor thing smashed into his patio window. He lived thanks to my friend who scooped him up and sat with him until he felt better. How rare is this bird in the area?

Lindsay replies:

According to the BC Conservation Data Centre , the bird is an island subspecies of Northern Pygmy Owl which is endemic (native) to Vancouver Island.

All but the northern pygmy-owl, are yellow-listed in BC, according to the Conservation Data Centre (2003), and the populations are therefore considered to be secure and not at risk of extinction. The swarthi subspecies of the northern pygmy-owl occurs only on Vancouver Island (Fraser et al., 1999) and is blue-listed in BC as vulnerable, or particularly sensitive to human activities or natural events (Fraser et al., 1999).

You can post your sighting here and you can learn more about species at risk in your area of Nanaimo here .

And if you’re a bird watcher, do sign up for David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge. We just produced an edition about saving boreal birds. You can sign a petition as well as sign your name to a BC specific campaign to get a law for endangered species.

Teya Tamsen from Vancouver writes:

I’m wondering what the public can do to reduce the now overwhelming crow population in Vancouver? All the tiny birds are swiftly disappearing; it’s very sad to witness.

Lindsay responds:

Crows are a very smart bunch. Naturalist author David Quammen has pointed out that they will be all we have left (along with other generalists like coyotes and pigeons) if we don’t change our consumption habits and destruction of ecosystems.

Think of it this way, crows can tolerate living with us (in our concrete jungle, eating our garbage, etc.) and not many species can. I suspect if there has been a noticeable increase in numbers it’s due to last year’s garbage strike. Like the rats, crows would have benefited from a surplus of food items as people’s trashcans were overflowing!

This brings me to the low number of songbirds living in our urban green spaces and backyards. The rat population explosion (maybe you’ve had more rat sightings or seen their droppings at your bird feeder) likely resulted in more predation attempts on bird eggs and nests. The other major culprit in Vancouver and other cities more often than not is domestic cats and not crows.

I’d suggest you contact the local naturalist club as they spend a lot of time bird watching and could offer more advice.

Another suggestion would be to contact your local wild bird store because they’re experts on this sort of topic as well.

Finally, since you are aware of birds, do sign up for David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge where we give you tips to live with as small a footprint as possible.

You can of course reduce the amount of garbage you put out and ensure that your garbage bin is sealed. This will deter not just crows but coyotes, skunks and raccoons. All of this urban wildlife does provide us with a host of services – it’s just sometimes behind the scenes. We’d really miss them if they were gone, that’s for sure.

If I haven’t armed you with enough reading already, a recent report shows that many common bird species are at risk of going extinct, including crows.

Thousands of chirpers and honkers are flocking through our green spaces these days. It’s a great time to read up on them. Share your book recommendations here.

Children who connect with nature grow into adults who care about protecting it.

Sylvie de Sousa and Katharine Byers are two Vancouver Moms who’ve put together a bag of tricks sure to nurture eco-consciousness in any kid (and, hopefully, prevent the onset of what Richard Louv calls “nature deficit disorder”). They helped us put together activities to turn kids into bird watchers and protectors for our November newsletter.

Share your wisdom about getting kids into nature here.

This summer, Lindsay saw crows taking turns ‘bathing’ in chimney smoke - getting ride of parasites perhaps? Tell us your bird stories, sightings, and feeding tips.

Canada’s Boreal forest - a green halo that touches nearly every province and territory - is home to millions of birds. Yet most of it is unprotected. Sign the Boreal Songbird Initiative’s petition to save the forest and the many creatures that call it home.

Mike Kaill sent in this report from the Spring Street Aquarium in Friday Harbour, Washington State:

 ”Last winter we had a major die-off in the Spring Street Aquarium. Virually all of the animals that lived on the bottom died - a large, candy-striped anemone that has been with us since we started, other anemones, giant barnacles, sea cucumbers and bottom fishes such as flounder, cling fish and gunnels. I suspected water quality problems and did some preliminary tests. We found high levels of detergents.
 
People need to look at their use of cleaning products, as well as lawn care and weed-killer products.  - anything that might go down the storm drain.  They need to consider how it’s affecting the water quality for all creatures. I don’t think people make the connection that when they hold car wash events, for example, that the detergents they use are deadly.
 
Storm drains go directly to lakes, streams and oceans without any treatment. I am concerned that runoff from the streets and parking lots goes directly into the harbor (and my aquarium). The best way to protect the nearshore environment is to keep cleaners out of the storm drains altogether.”