Off the birds for now and turn your attention to the yard work, make sure the yard work is predictable before reintroducing birds. There needs to be an understanding of "Whoa" before you go back into the field with birds. If the dog is non-compliant with that command in the field, then a correction can be made for not obeying the command, not for chasing the bird.
If your are bound and determined to "break" the chase, e-collar condition the dog first, then let it chase for 40-50 yards and then correct, this way it'll associate the correction with the chase and not the bird.
if it was me, I'd be off birds and doing yard work