Hawks Play at Home at Ballwin Ball Fields

A lone cardinal was spotted Thursday on the main baseball diamond of the Ballwin Athletic Association, but the star of the show lately hasn't been one of St. Louis' famous redbirds.

Instead, spring visitors have been treated to some swooping-showmanship from a family of hawks, which have set up nests atop at least two of the stadium lights at the facility's main, southwesternmost baseball diamond.

"Their criteria for what makes a good nest site would be different from what we would think," World Bird Sanctuary worker Catherine Redfern told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch."They're not going to be concerned about activity or noise as long as they are up high enough to be protected."

Perched above the diamond, the hawks frequently often go after rabbits, snakes, squirrels and other rodents, a groundskeeper with the Ballwin Athletic Association told the metro St. Louis newspaper. Despite their history of fast catches, the birds reportedly have not yet made any game-saving baseball grabs.