Ospreyers,

Please join us for this program at Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center. 
DR. RUSS GREENBERG, DIRECTOR OF THE SMITHSONIAN MIGRATORY BIRD CENTER, TO SPEAK ON SHADE GROWN COFFEE AND BIRDS: HOW THE COFFEE YOU DRINK AFFECTS MANY SPECIES OF BIRDS. 

This Friday, December 2, 2005 at 8:00 p.m. Dr. Russ Greenberg, Director of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, will speak about the importance of shade grown coffee plantations to the diversity and abundance of avian species. His work and the research of others has documented that shade grown coffee plantations play a key role in the conservation of migratory birds that have found a sanctuary in their forest-like environment. The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center has been at the forefront of research into shade grown coffee conservation issues, such as: certification evaluation, sustainable coffee, coffee, conservation, and commerce and conservation principles for growing and marketing coffee. Dr. Greenberg will address the importance of consumers buying "Bird Friendly" Coffee that comes from farms in Latin America that provide good, forest-like habitat for birds. Rather than being grown on land that has been cleared of all other vegetation. "Bird Friendly" coffees are planted under a canopy of trees, without the use of chemical pesticides which poison the environment. Russ is an expert on neo-tropical birds and their habitat selection, the ecology and evolution of migration, and use of human-modified tropical habitats. Russ's work on coffee plantations in South and Central America has documented the importance of shade-grown coffee to birds. His work on conservation policy in coffee landscapes has been published in Science. He received his Ph.D. in Ornithology in 1981 from the University of California at Berkeley.

Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center is on Indian Landing Road in Millersville, MD.  From the Baltimore area, take I-97 south to exit 10A Benfield Blvd. East.  Turn right at light onto Veterans Highway.  Follow Veterans Highway south to RT 178 south (Generals Highway)  Turn left onto RT 178 south and follow it to Indian Landing Road.  Turn left at the stone church onto Indian Landing Road and follow it to the Arlington 
Echo sign.  Turn right into the center.

Sue Ricciardi,  Anne Arundel Bird Club
For Gerald Winegrad, Program Chair