From Forest to Coffee Finca: The Golden-Winged Warbler’s Magnificent Migration

When it comes to protecting natural havens for many of the birds that migrate south from North America each winter, Latin American shade-grown-coffee farms are second only to virgin forest. Since 2007 scientists from Audubon North Carolina, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and several of the state’s universities have been monitoring wintering golden-wing populations on small coffee farms in Nicaragua. In the May/June issue of Audubon Magazine, writer T. Edward Nickens and photographer Jen Judge journey through Nicaragua to find out just how key coffee farms can be for the well-being of this vibrant-colored bird. Read the story. And listen to the golden-winged warbler's beautiful song.