Burning For Birds Field Days

Get outside with the Georgia Conservancy to tour properties utilizing prescribed fire for land management and bird habitat restoration!

The Georgia Conservancy is hosting a series of field days on private properties in middle and south Georgia to highlight prescribed fire for bird habitat. Whether you are a landowner, property manager, birder, or just interested in prescribed fire, these field days are a great opportunity to learn more about this long-practiced approach to land management.

Our first two Burning for Birds Field Days in Hawkinsville and Glennville provided the public with hands-on experience conducting surveys for target bird species and the chance to learn more about prescribed fire as a habitat management tool.

Be on the lookout for more Burning for Birds Field Days in 2025 and 2026.

Burning for Birds Field Day participants have the opportunity to conduct call-back surveys to sample for species of concern, including Bachman’s sparrow, Northern Bobwhite quail, loggerhead shrike, brown-headed nuthatch, and Eastern towhee. Using a speaker with a pre-recorded audio file, field day participants act as citizen scientists collecting data that helps document the occurrence of these rare birds.

Burning for Birds Field Days include a prescribed fire workshop where participants receive training on how to responsibly conduct a prescribed burn. Topics include: what weather and site conditions are needed to burn, prescribed fire rules and regulations in Georgia, and which financial and technical resources are available. Field Days will end with a demonstration that allows participants the chance to put fire on the ground and learn the best way, hands-on.

Thank you to NextEra Energy Resources, Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, and Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Viewing Grants Program for your support of the Burning For Birds Field Days.

About Georgia DNR Wildlife Viewing Grants Program: “These grants focus on developing and improving wildlife-viewing opportunities that increase public awareness and appreciation of wildlife not hunted or fished for, rare native plant species and natural habitats. The program also emphasizes species and habitats considered conservation priorities in Georgia’s State Wildlife Action Plan.”

RSVP TO A BURNING FOR BIRDS FIELD DAY

Each of our Burning for Birds Field Days run from 8 AM - 1 PM and includes morning coffee, afternoon lunch, water throughout the day, and travel between different sites on the property. Please bring a reusable water bottle and any snacks that you may want during the day. Participants are highly encouraged to wear natural fibers (cotton, etc.), long pants, and closed-toed shoes. If you have them, please bring binoculars and/or cameras for the birding portion of the event.

SUMMER 2025 (DATES & LOCATIONS TBD)

Exact address will be provided to registrants via email as date approaches

About the BURNING FOR BIRDS CONSERVATION COLLABORATIVE

Better burning makes for better bird habitat! Georgia Conservancy is proud to partner with the Burning for Birds Conservation Collaborative (BBCC) to enhance our work with private landowners across middle and south Georgia, promoting growing season (Feb-Aug) prescribed fires to manage and maintain bird habitat indicative of pine/savanna ecosystems. This effort builds upon the direct landowner coordination Georgia Conservancy has conducted in the past three years, reaching nearly 400 landowners in a 60-county focus area.

Thanks to funding from the Cornell Ornithology Lab and BBCC, Georgia Conservancy will utilize autonomous recording units (ARUs) to detect target bird species after growing season fires, recording bird vocalizations in the morning and evening. The program will target loggerhead shrike, brown-headed nuthatch, Bachman’s sparrow, and northern bobwhite through 10 ARUs on five pine forest properties across the coastal plain, each deployed around different burn schedules.

In an effort to engage citizen scientists and promote the benefits of growing season prescribed fire as a management tool, we are collaborating with Birds Georgia to bring bird enthusiasts to private lands for three field days, making lands otherwise inaccessible to the public open for study. We also encourage private landowners to attend and learn more about how they can utilize better burning practices on their lands.

Working together with the BBCC, Georgia Conservancy is helping to promote the benefits of growing season prescribed fires while using private landowners as a model to encourage citizen science. This project would not be possible without support from the Cornell Ornithology Lab, Burning for Birds Conservation Collaborative, Birds Georgia, and our private landowners. Georgia Conservancy plans to replicate this project into future monitoring projects, promoting citizen science and private landowner collaboration.

Learn more about our outreach to private landowners: www.georgiaconservancy.org/land/gsl

Thank you to our Burning For Birds Conservation Collaborative Partners: Georgia Forestry Commission, GA DNR Private Lands Program, Quail Forever, Birds Georgia, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, NRCS, and Burning For Birds Conservation Collaborative.  

Questions? Reach out to Georgia Conservancy Land Stewardship Coordinator Jason Alstad at jalstad@georgiaconservancy.org