Bird-watchers have reason to flock to new stadium

Spring training facility will have strong appeal for feathered friends.

The St. Louis Cardinals won’t be the only birds visiting the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches this spring.

C h a n c e s a r e b a s e b a l l f a n s attending Houston Astros and Washington Nationals games at the $148 million spring training complex south of 45th Street will see plent y of crows, too. And common grackles and sea gulls and perhaps even great egrets, great blue heron and bald eagles, according to wildlife experts.

It won’t look like a scene out of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” but the skies over the complex, a former landfill, could be teeming with wildlife because of a geographic double play: The facilit y’s proximity to nearby wildlife habitats and, perhaps most important, baseball fans munching on peanuts, popcorn and Cracker Jack.

“If the food is there, the birds are going to be there,” said Benji Studt, supervisor of public outreach for Palm Beach County’s Department of Environmental Resources Management.

Birds are a common sight at ballparks, beaches and other outdoor public places where people eat food. In San Francisco, for example, flocks of sea gulls converge on AT&T Park after baseball games to feast on food left by fans.

But just how many feathered friends will mingle at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches remains to be seen — and is something birdwatchers will keep an eye on.

The 160-acre baseball complex, bet ween Haverhill Road and Military Trail, is within a mile or two of other areas frequented by birds and wildlife.