Starting out this dismal morning, two cups of coffee strengthen my resolve. I'm testing my tolerance by a walk in cold gray rain to experience why a screech owl moves into a tree cavity in this weather. Shivering, despite a water-resistant but not waterproof jacket that mimics the screech owl's water-resistant but not waterproof feathers, I toss the coffee grounds into the woods and retreat to my own cavity. I "feed" the trees about fifty-two pounds of grounds yearly, or close to half a ton in twenty years, only a possible economic benefit to the forest but a certain one to Mayan friends in northern Central America.

Coffee connects me to the fate of fall's migratory birds, since it is now grown in sunny clear-cuts as well as forest shade in tropical America. But species such as the great-crested flycatcher and wood thrush can't find a winter home in a tropics without trees. Furthermore, sunlit coffee must be sprayed with pesticides, replacing the avian pest control service, and chemically fertilized, a service formerly provided by the native shade trees. These and costs such as the loss of erosion control may exceed added income if a realistic cost:benefit analysis is made, as I noted firsthand in the destruction of Honduras after hurricane Mitch.