Meeting Kindred Spirits over Coffee

From back home in Ohio already, Kenn writes: I had a whirlwind weekend, giving three talks in two days, in three very different settings. On Saturday I would get to address an audience of about 300 at the "Shreve Migration Sensation"; on Friday night it was a smaller audience of the top movers and shakers of Audubon’s statewide organization in New York; but in this post I want to talk about what happened Friday afternoon.

The Friday afternoon event was a small gathering, by invitation only, organized by Nancy Castillo and Lois Geshiwim, owners of the Wild Birds Unlimited store in Saratoga Springs, New York. These two had decided some time ago that they wanted to promote the idea of shade-grown, bird-friendly coffee. They had started using their store and their website to educate their customers about this issue, describing how coffee grown in traditional shade plantations supported large populations of native birds, while factory farms of sun-grown coffee would support essentially no birds or wildlife at all. When Nancy and Lois found out that I was going to be in the area, they invited me and my partner, Bill Wilson of Birds & Beans, to give a presentation at their local Wilton Wildlife Preserve.

It was a delightful gathering, with an audience of interested and interesting people. After I gave my migration-and-coffee talk, we had a great question-and-answer session -- I answered the bird questions, Bill Wilson answered the coffee questions -- and a number of people agreed to give the Bird-Friendly Coffee a try. We hope they’ll like it enough to come back for more; if we can build up the demand, we can support those farmers in Latin America who are growing the coffee in the responsible, traditional way.

Here we are squinting into the afternoon sun in front of the WBU banner. From left: Kenn K., Lois Geshiwim and Nancy Castillo of Wild Birds Unlimited, and Bill Wilson of Birds & Beans LLC. If I don't look totally happy in this picture, it's only because I was missing Kim; she was doing BSBO work and couldn't break away for this fast trip to New York.

For me the best part about the afternoon was getting to meet Lois Geshiwim and Nancy Castillo. I’ve been to a lot of wild bird supply stores, and the best ones are owned and managed by people who treat it as more than a job. The best wild bird stores become nature centers in miniature, on the front lines of public education. Nancy and Lois are passionate about birds and nature and conservation, and about sharing the wonders of nature with others. They didn’t decide to promote shade-grown coffee because they thought it would increase their profits -- no, they chose this because it was the right thing to do, because they want to make a difference and help the birds. It’s no surprise to learn that Nancy, on the side, writes a wonderful blog called "The Zen Birdfeeder." These women are truly committed to the subject!

Meeting these two reminded me of the story about workers at a construction site where a cathedral was being built. When the workers were asked about what they were doing, one said, "I’m nailing these frames together," another said, "I’m laying bricks," and so on. But one worker looked up with a smile and said, "I’m building a cathedral." If they don't mind my saying so, something like that applies to Nancy and Lois. They’re not just selling birdseed, they’re changing the world, and it was an inspiration to meet them.

Here's more about their Wild Birds Unlimited store:
http://saratogasprings.wbu.com/

Here's a link to Nancy's blog, The Zen Birdfeeder:
http://wildbirdsunlimited.typepad.com/

Here's more about certified Bird-Friendly coffee: http://birdsandbeans.com/

GBBC!

This White-throated Sparrow is just waiting patiently to be counted ...

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: Here's a shout out to ace birder Rob Fergus, who writes the very popular blog over at The Birdchaser and who is also one of the principal organizers of the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). The GBBC is going on right now, through Monday the 16th (Presidents' Day), and it's easy for anyone to get involved. You can count birds from the comfort of your kitchen window, or you can trek out into the wilderness, and your results will help to give a valuable snapshot of what's happening with birds all over the North American continent this weekend. It's the second-most-fun thing you can do on Valentine's Day (and it may be THE most fun thing you can do on Presidents' Day). It's a great activity for families -- if you're a parent with kids who are lukewarm on birds, get them involved in helping to count and then let them enter the data online and explore all the interactive stuff on the GBBC site. You can find all the info on the Great Backyard Bird Count right here and you can get Rob's own perspective on it by going to the Birdchaser Blog here.

I'll be CBC-ing you ...

From under a pile of blankets, Kenn writes: Okay, picture this. It's Sunday morning -- yesterday morning, and we're out before it's fully daylight, standing in the soggy weeds along the edge of a soggy woods. The temperature is above freezing, but the only way we know that is because the wind-driven precipitation hitting our faces is rain, not ice. And my thoughts are running something like this:

- According to a US Fish & Wildlife Service survey in 2006, there are approximately 81,400,000 bird watchers in the United States.

- If that's true, then last year, there were 81,353,380 bird watchers in the United States who did not take part in the Christmas Bird Count (CBC). But last year set a new high record for participation!

Standing there in the freezing wet night and thinking about it, I'm reminded of the late lamented Rick Blom, who might have commented that "no one does this, and if you try it, you'll understand why." Still, we are out there doing it. Kim and I were out all day yesterday on the Toledo CBC, and we actually had a great time and saw a lot of birds, but I'm pondering two rhetorical questions:

1. If we must have a Christmas Bird Count, why couldn't Jesus have had the decency to be born at a warmer time of year?

2. Given the evident popularity of birding, why doesn't the CBC draw more participants than it does?

Those are, as I said, rhetorical questions, though I'd love to hear from anyone who has an answer. But I'm trying to formulate a more serious question about how bloggers relate to the reality of the birding community and how the CBC relates to both. That question isn't in coherent form yet, so please check back for it when you can.