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Photos by Savannah Schmidt.
Chris Sykes, the executive director of the Alabama Wildlife Center at Oak Mountain State Park, holds a Eurasian eagle-owl.
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Sykes visits Shelby, the center’s resident bald eagle, in her enclosure.
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Sykes feeds a vulture in its enclosure.
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Sykes visits injured birds the Alabama Wildlife Center’s clinic.
Chris Sykes lives out his dream daily as the executive director of the Alabama Wildlife Center at Oak Mountain State Park.
“I never worked with birds before, but I was always passionate about birds,” Sykes said. “I grew up in a rough childhood and wondered how to escape that environment. So I would go outside and start noticing birds and bird songs.”
“I realized there were places where you could change the world,” he continued.
After the passing of the center’s former director, Doug Adair, in 2022, Sykes left his position at Birmingham Audubon to work at AWC. He plays an essential role in the fundraising work for the center to continue its conservation efforts.
“But every once in a while, I will be staring at a screen for too long, so I go hang out in the clinic or hold a bird,” Sykes joked.
If more people knew tips on how to handle birds that are injured or in the wrong place, Sykes said, they could help reduce the number of birds that organizations like AWC take in and care for. For instance, a fallen nest can be placed in a small basket and relocated.
In the future, Sykes hopes to grow AWC’s educational and rehabilitative programs to protect bird species all over Alabama.
