By EMILY D. COOK

The Alabama Wildlife Center is located inside Oak Mountain State Park and is Alabama’s oldest and largest rehabilitation facility.

They receive and care for more than 1,600 birds annually.

The two main goals of the Alabama Wildlife Center are 1) to rehab and release birds back into their natural wild habitat, and 2) to educate people about the native Alabama wildlife.

The Alabama Wildlife Center began in 1977 as a small home-based all volunteer organization, but now has grown to a world leader in methodology and care and has five full-time staff and over 200 dedicated volunteers.

They are always looking for more volunteers. Since the Alabama Wildlife Center started, they have helped over 50,000 native wild animals and their wildlife hotline, which has been in continuous operation since 1981, receives thousands of calls each year, helping over 100,000 Alabamians.

The Alabama Wildlife Center is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. until 5p.m. for you to visit.

Depending on the time of year you can see baby birds of all species in the baby bird nursery, many of which require around-the-clock feeding, or you may find Red-tail Hawks in Freedom Flight testing their wings getting ready to be released back into the wild, or you may even find Double-Crested Cormorant or a White-Eyed Vireo, both special visitors to the Center.

The Alabama Wildlife Center also maintains and cares for the birds located along the Treetop Nature Trail.

Do you want to help the Wildlife Center but don’t want to volunteer? They have many fundraising events throughout the year from Wild About Chocolate to Chirps and Chips to the Baby Bird Shower, where you can donate items that are needed to care for the injured and orphaned birds that come in.

Please remember that you keep Alabama State Parks open by visiting us.

The Alabama Wildlife Center is free and open to the public after park admission.

For more information on the Alabama Wildlife Center, visit Awrc.org.

For more information on the park, please visit Alapark.com/oak-mountain-state-park.