2006 Christmas Cards
Now you can send a very special Christmas card to everyone on your list and help wildlife at the same time!
For each donation of $10 or more to help injured and orphaned wildlife, we will send a beautiful full-color Christmas card to someone on your list. Select from the pictures below and learn a little about each animal.
Your gift helps wild creatures in need!
A $10 card helps care for 2 animals for a week.
A $15 card helps care for 3 animals for a week.
A $20 card helps care for 4 animals for a week.How to order:
1. Click Here to select the donation level of the Alabama Wildlife Center Christmas card(s) you would like to order. (All online transactions are secured through PayPal.) You may select any combination of cards and donation levels you wish.
2. After placing your order, please e-mail us at dbattles@awrc.org with the following information:
Your name (as you wish to have it printed on the card).
Confirm the number of cards of each design you have ordered (and donation levels of each).
The names and addresses where we will send the cards. (If you have ordered more than one design, please indicate who should receive which design)
$10 Cards
$15 Cards
$20 Cards
CLIFF SWALLOW
Hirundo
pyrrhonota
Two nestling Cliff Swallows fell from their gourd-shaped mud nest under a bridge. Their rescuer saved them from drowning but could not reach their nest. At the Alabama Wildlife Center, the young swallows were hand-fed every hour in the Baby Bird Nursery until they began to fly. Cliff Swallows are swift and graceful fliers that must capture insects in flight. To prepare them for release, they were moved to a spacious flight cage, where they were trained to snatch crickets tossed in the air. They were released near a Cliff Swallow colony in North Alabama.
MOUNTAIN LION
Puma concolor
This young Mountain Lion was swapped for a gun at a trade day in Tennessee in 1988. She was taken to Huntsville, tied up in a back yard, and fed a diet of scraps. A few months later, declawed and near death from malnutrition, she was rescued by the Alabama Wildlife Center in Birmingham, and taken to the Center’s satellite facility on private land. A healthful diet, a comfortable and spacious enclosure, and gentle care restored her health, but she could not be returned to the wild. “Sheela” (the Choctaw word for “rescued”) is now 18 years old and still in good health. The last documented sighting of a wild Mountain Lion in Alabama was in 1955.
OSPREY
Pandion
haliaetus
In July, a volunteer from the Alabama Wildlife Center’s statewide Raptor Network rescued a young Osprey that had fallen from its nest on a channel marker in the Tennessee River in northeast Alabama. The Wildlife Center’s Juvenile Raptor Program provides state-wide leadership in reuniting young birds of prey with their parents after an accidental separation. The young Osprey required only a few days’ care at the Wildlife Center before being returned to the banks of the Tennessee River and reunited with its parents.
WOOD DUCK
Aix sponsa
A mother Wood Duck was hit by a car as she was leading her hatchlings to water. Two children saw the accident, and, aided by their mother, rounded up four of the orphaned ducklings and brought them to the Alabama Wildlife Center. Wood Ducks are shy and nervous by nature, and the tiny ducklings required special care. The hatchlings were hand-fed hourly on a special formula until they began to eat on their own. Their secluded enclosure contained a feather duster suspended from above, to create the feeling of a mother’s wing. The Wood Ducks matured into the beautiful plumage shown on the front of the card before being released back into the wild.
RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS
Buteo
lineatus
This spring, these nestling Red-shouldered Hawks were rescued by Alabama Wildlife Center staff after their nest was destroyed. Because of land clearance at the nest site, the young birds could not be reunited with their parents. Wildlife Center staff wore special “ghost” outfits when tending the nestlings, to keep them from becoming tame. Raised on a natural diet in a spacious flight cage, the young birds were flying well and had developed their hunting skills before they returned to the wild in early summer.
CHIPMUNK
Tamias
rufus
Four orphaned baby chipmunks were brought to the Alabama Wildlife Center after their mother was killed by a house cat. The tiny Chipmunks were housed in an incubator and fed a special milk formula until they were old enough to feed themselves. After their eyes had opened they were moved to the Baby Mammal Nursery, where they occupied an enclosure furnished with hollow logs and fresh pine branches to simulate a natural habitat. An adult female Chipmunk that was recovering from injuries was placed in their cage as a surrogate mother. The five Chipmunks, clearly attached to each other, were released together on private land.
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