Plan your visit. Check out our hours and cost of admission.
The Nature Center is open Thursday through Sunday
from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
Check out the Preserve Map and find your path.
1214 81st Street South, Birmingham, Alabama 35206
Hours
PRESERVE, PAVILION, AND TRAILS
OPEN TUES - SUN
7 AM - 5 PM Nov - Feb
7 AM - 7 PM Mar - Oct
CLOSED MONDAYS
NATURE CENTER
Based on staff capacity, the nature center is open Thursday through Sunday
from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
Once the parking lot is full, the Preserve is full. No parking along 81st Street.
No entry before or after preserve hours.
Cost of Admission
Ruffner Mountain does not receive federal, or state funding for operations. Ruffner Mountain is a 501(c)3 nonprofit.
If you are a member of Ruffner Mountain, please remember to bring your member parking permit for free entry to the preserve.
Non-members are required to purchase a visitor parking permit for $5 through the ParkMobile app. Cash or card options are available at the vending machine located at the pavilion. The permit covers everyone in your vehicle and is valid for one day only.
If you are interested in membership, please visit our membership page.
Preserve Map
Nature Center
The Preserve, Pavilion, and Trails are open Tuesday through Sunday, and the Nature Center is open Thursday through Sunday from 9:00 am — 5:00 pm.
Our meeting room is available to rent Tuesday - Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. For rental requests and pricing information, please complete our facility rental request form.
If Ruffner Mountain is one vast, interconnected web, then the Nature Center is just that, its center. Within its walls, you will find the Exhibit Hall, featuring a wide variety of native species, including a gray ratsnake (Pantherophis spiloides), a black “speckled” kingsnake (Lampropeltis nigra), a copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix), an Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina), and more. Outside you will find a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) and a Barred Owl (Strix varia). In addition to the Exhibit Hall, our Animal Care Department is located at the Nature Center. Here, we care for 15 to 25 animals at any given time.
We care for each animal in our collection, and that means feeding nutritional and carefully formulated diets, including fresh fruit and vegetables for our herbivores and omnivores, maintaining clean habitats and environments, providing enrichment, training, and socializing, implementing innovative exhibit design, regular vet care, minor procedures such as beak trimming, nail trimming, and the administration of vet prescribed medications—all done in-house— and careful records that are kept every day about each animal in our care, including weight and behavior changes.
Ruffner is not a licensed rehabilitation facility and is legally unable to accept any wildlife drop-offs. If you have injured wildlife, please contact your closest licensed rehabilitator. You can find contact information for all licensed rehabilitators below:
You can find your closest licensed mammal rehabilitator at https://www.outdooralabama.com/wildlife-rehabilitation/current-wildlife-rehabbers. Please note that it is illegal for anyone to rehab high-risk rabies vectors, including bats, raccoons, foxes, and skunks. There are no rehabbers for these species in the state. If you have found a high-risk rabies vector, you can call DCNR at 334-242-3469.
For Birds: Alabama Wildlife Center. Outside of Central Alabama, please find your closest local licensed rehabilitator at this link: https://www.outdooralabama.com/wildlife-rehabilitation/current-wildlife-rehabbers.
