This walk is full – now taking wait list!

In addition to being a Unitarian Universalist minister, nature poet, and former board member of the Faith Alliance of Metro-Atlanta, Eco-A’s great friend Rev. Marti Keller comes from a family of highly respected ornithologists and birders. Marti’s father was Dr. Joseph Greenberg, former President of Atlanta Audubon Society, who taught birding for 25 years through evening at Emory, and worked to promote the use of shade-grown coffee in local coffee shops. One of Marti’s brothers, Doug Greenberg is an environmentalist and noted bird photographer, now in  California, and the other was Dr. Russell Greenberg, director of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, from 1991 until his untimely death last year due to pancreatic cancer.

For most of his career, Russell Greenberg, studied the birds of tropical forests and wetlands, including wintering warblers, vireos, antwrens, swamp sparrows and rusty blackbirds, which helped him develop insights into avian behavior, evolution and ecology.  He is also widely credited for initiating the movement for shade-grown, bird-friendly coffee plantations around the world, for which he received the Elliott Coues Award from the American Ornithologists Union in 2013.

We dedicate our walk in the Dawson Forest to the Greenberg family.  Rev. Marti Keller will walk with us and share remembrances of her father and brothers and about growing up in a family of renowned birders.

Dawson Forest was selected for its wide variety of bird habitats and species, from open fields to deep woods, encompassing one of the few large natural area left for birds in the Georgia Piedmont not far from Atlanta. Many migratory songbirds nest in the Dawson Forest. We’ll also see native wildflowers and visit a waterfall near the Etowah River, where we’ll have a picnic lunch.

To register (RSVP) click HERE  details & directions sent to registered participants 

a suggested donation of $15 or more helps fund our programs

About shade-grown coffee

Most coffee-drinkers probably do not realize the beans grown for their morning brew are likely grown in open sunny areas that used to be tropical forests. The coffee plant is actually a smaller understory tree that naturally grows under the canopy — in the shade — of taller forest trees.  The new movement to raise “shade-grown coffee” keeps native forests from being cut down, while still growing a valuable cash crop — so we can have our forests and drink them too!  Shade-grown, fair-trade coffee is also an important source of sustainable agriculture, benefiting many communities in coffee growing areas.

Keeping tropical forests intact is critically important for migratory songbirds who spend the summers nesting in North American forests and spend winters in Central and South America. Habitat loss is the critical factor in the exponential decline of these beautiful songbirds including the colorful warblers. Extinction of a number of these species is predicted in just a few decades if measures to protect their habitat are not taken now.

If you are a coffee-drinker, we encourage you to help protect native songbird habitats you may see in the Dawson Forest – or  in your backyard.  Make the switch to shade-grown, and ask your coffee shop, from local-owned to Starbucks, to offer shade-grown coffee as well.

For more information about shade-grown coffee and to purchase:

http://www.javavino.com/our_store/house_coffee.html (Highland Ave, Atlanta)

Batdorf & Bronson coffee roasters (supply Dancing Goats in Atlanta):

http://www.batdorfcoffee.com/organic-whirling-dervish-blend.html

http://www.cafecampesino.com/Atlanta_Audubon_Society_Blend_Full_City_Roast_p/c185.htm

http://www.atlantaaudubon.org/shade-grown-coffee

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/SCBI/MigratoryBirds/Coffee/default.cfm

Small batch, shade-grown, bird-friendly coffee roasters in Atlanta and beyond:
(We’re sure there are more but here’s a start)

http://www.javavino.com/our_store/house_coffee.html

Batdorf & Bronson coffee roasters (supply Dancing Goats in Atlanta):

http://www.batdorfcoffee.com/organic-whirling-dervish-blend.html

http://beanealogy.com/

http://www.thebeanery.com/about-us/

http://rainbowgrocery.com/

http://www.sevananda.coop/

Above photos: (top) Russ Greenberg, courtesy Marti Keller, (Birds l-r) Cerulean Warbler, American Restart, by Tom Wilson, Magnolia Warbler, by Kathryn Kolb, Scarlet Tanager, by Tom Wilson, (bottom) Joe Greenberg, courtesy Marti Keller.