Tall Timbers: Bird Monitoring with Southern Regional Technical College Wildlife Survey Students

Students from the Thomasville and Tifton, GA, Southern Regional Technical College campuses assisted Tall Timbers in data collection on two properties for the Cornell Burning for Birds Collaborative project.  Dr. Jeremy Green’s spring and fall classes of Wildlife Survey students earned certificates upon completion of the eBird Essentials course and ran species lists to collect pre-burn and post-burn data on two selected properties. The Merlin ID app was also introduced and utilized in the field.  Enthusiastic students from each class were able to identify all 5 of the project’s target species (Bachman’s sparrow, Eastern towhee, loggerhead shrike, Northern bobwhite, and brown-headed nuthatch) gaining field experience and honing their birding skills while gleaning knowledge about the importance of fire in the Southeastern longleaf pine-wiregrass savanna ecosystem.  Students also gained valuable insight from landowners who steward these lands.  Thanks to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Land Trust Bird Initiative grant which provided opportunity for their participation in the project, these students will take these experiences forward in the field of conservation.  

Spring 2024 SRTC Wildlfe Survey students and Professor on the Jeffords Tract (pre-burn).

Fall 2024 SRTC Wildlife Survey students assisted with pre-burn data collection at Birdsong Nature Center.

Spring 2025 SRTC Wildlife Survey students and professor talking with a landowner during a post-burn survey.

SRTC student standing in post-burn regeneration with eyes on the skies.