Birds on Farms assists rural landholders to identify, appreciate and manage birds and their habitats on their properties.
Farms and rural properties cover large parts of the Australian landscape. Managing this land in a way that benefits birds and their habitats can also see benefits to farm productivity, through helping combat issues that flow on from climate change, historic habitat loss and fragmentation, feral animals and drought.
Through the Birds on Farms program, we partner with landholders to learn more about birds and their habitats on private rural properties. We can then use the information gathered to conserve and protect woodland birds.
After initial monitoring of the birds which occur on rural properties, to gain an understanding of the species assemblages that occur there across all seasons, the Birds on Farms project then supports the landholders in planning, and then implementing, appropriate habitat management on their properties.
Our long-term objective is to support landholders and local communities to enhance populations and diversity of woodland birds and their habitats within a landscape that continues to be agriculturally productive and profitable. To achieve this, we provide participants with opportunities to be involved in a range of activities, including the development of tailored habitat plans, regular bird monitoring surveys and site visits, training workshops and educational events, and access to partnerships and subsidies for on-ground works.
Currently, Birds on Farms is operating across Victoria, and has two separate regional projects in New South Wales. We are also have a new intensive project in central-eastern Victoria, as well as one in the ACT-Yass area and south-western Western Australia. In all Birds on Farms projects, interest from landholders and birdwatchers is encouraged.
There are now 200 rural landholders participating across the state. With the assistance of volunteer birdwatchers, standardised bird surveys are regularly undertaken in a range of habitats on each property. The information collected provides landholders, scientists and other conservation practitioners with critical information about bird population health and habitat use on private land.
Launching in mid-2022, this project works with rural landholders and communities from the north-eastern fringes of Greater Melbourne (Lilydale, Eltham), northwards across the Great Dividing Range, through to the Yea district. It provides participants with opportunities to be involved in the development of tailored habitat plans, regular bird monitoring surveys and site visits, training workshops and educational events, and access to partnerships and subsidies for on-ground works.
This project, in the South West Slopes region of NSW, provides rural landholders and other participants with opportunities to be involved in the development of tailored habitat plans, regular bird monitoring surveys and site visits, training workshops and educational events, and access to partnerships and subsidies for on-ground works.
Also known as ‘Re-ageing the Woodlands of Central West NSW’, this project works with rural landowners and participants to fast-track the establishment of old-growth components in local woodlands using a mix of targeted, on-ground habitat restoration, awareness-raising activities and regular bird monitoring surveys.
Covering rural agricultural lands across the ACT and northwards into the Yass district and surrounds, this project provides rural landholders and other participants with opportunities to be involved in the development of tailored habitat plans, regular bird monitoring surveys and site visits, training workshops and educational events, and access to partnerships and subsidies for on-ground works.
This project is connecting rural landholders with citizen scientists across Western Australia’s agricultural region. The project provides rural landholders and other participants with opportunities to be involved in regular bird monitoring surveys, site visits, training workshops and events, and access to subsidies for on-ground works. This project is currently supported by the Western Australian Government’s State NRM Program and a private bequest.
Birds on Farms ACT-Yass is made possible through a generous donation from a private philanthropist with a keen interest in woodland bird conservation.
Birds on Farms Southern NSW has been supported by NSW Government’s Saving our Species Program and through its Environmental Trust. It has also been supported by the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife and by philanthropic contributions from farmers with holdings in southern NSW, a long-term commitment to the project, and a keen interest in sustainable agriculture and the benefits of practical work to support birds on farms.
Birds on Farms Southern NSW project partners include Holbrook Landcare Network, West Hume Landcare, Corowa District Landcare and the Ovens and Murray BirdLife Australia Branch.
Central West NSW Birds on Farms is being funded by the NSW Government through a partnership between the Saving our Species program and the Environmental Trust. Support funding is also received through the Corella Fund.
Birds on Farms Yarra to Yea is made possible through a grant received from the Ross Trust and through donations received from philanthropists with a keen interest in woodland bird conservation.
Birds on Farms Victoria is made possible through a generous donation from a private philanthropist with a keen interest in woodland bird conservation.
Birds on Farms Western Australia is supported by funding from the Western Australian Government’s State NRM program.
Home to a number of threatened birds, ‘The Mallee’ is a semi-arid zone centred on the Murray Mallee region of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. It supports extensive and intact old-growth Mallee vegetation, although it has been affected by widespread habitat clearance and bushfires.
The Critically Endangered Swift Parrot is mostly bright green, with a dark-blue patch on the crown. Breeds in Tasmania and migrates to the mainland for winter.
