The shade coffee plantations of Guatemala provide more than just our coffee, they are also good foraging habitat for a number of birds. The Cinnamon Hummingbird and parrots like my Willow, the White-fronted Amazon. While modern shade plantations plant evenly spaced rows of trees, such as Inga, a traditional polyculture plantation will plant Inga along with a variety of fruit trees such as avocado, guava, Jocote, bitter orange, banana, and citrus and will also rely less on fertilizers and herbicides.
The Cinnamon Hummingbird did make an appearance in Arizona and New Mexico in 1992-93, but it is best to wander down to the deciduous, thorn, and second-growth forests of western Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, and south to Belize and Costa Rica to see them. Or visit a coffee plantation! Males and females are similar so I’m not sure the sex of the ones that I was able to snap an image of while in the resort in Mexico. The background colors are from the buildings behind the shrubs and trees where the hummingbirds were flittering about.
As for Willow, well she now has a brightly lit Christmas tree to admire during the evenings this season. I decided against the flashing lights I usually love as I wasn’t sure what that may do to her sanity. A trip to Logee’s may be in order for a tropical plant or two for the windows Willow finds herself in front of. Something that can be relocated to her summer aviary outside her ‘bedroom’ window.
Do consider where your coffee comes from as your dollars would do better to support traditional shade plantations that support a wider diversity and higher abundance of bird species.
Happy birding! I hope you are enjoying my travels into Willow’s World. Stay well and enjoy the holiday season.