Birds flock to Bay Area ballparks

SAN FRANCISCO — Among Denard Span’s greatest fears in the outfield is having a gull splat on him from above as he chases down a long fly ball.

It’s a real possibility, considering how regularly the pesky birds come in off the San Francisco Bay to hover low over the Giants’ AT&T Park.

“I’m afraid of them dropping something, using the bathroom on top of me,” said Span, San Francisco’s center fielder. “Or maybe them dropping some food near me and then all of them just freaking swarming me.”

Sports venues across the country struggle to wave off pigeons, bats and gulls, but the two Bay Area ballparks’ proximity to the water and dumps attracts birds in large flocks. It has been such a problem at the Oakland Coliseum that stadium operations officials added a pair of vinyl kites this season in an effort to fend them off.

Gulls typically feed at dumps, but marine biologists say recent efforts taken by some nearby sites to bury the waste faster have kept the feathered creatures away. Now, the gulls circle Bay Area ballparks in the hundreds to scour for leftovers such as garlic fries, creating a nuisance for fans and players — not to mention the grounds crew that goes back to work when the game ends.

In Oakland, the bird brigade was becoming such a problem that the Athletics added two falcon-shaped kites this season to try to scare off the gulls. The kites even have catchy nicknames chosen by fans: “Falcon McFalconface” and “Scott Hattebird,” after former A’s star Scott Hatteberg.

“We took off the tarps in the third deck for the first time in several years, so it seemed to open up the opportunity for the birds to come,” said David Rinetti, the A’s vice president of stadium operations.

There were a few day games this season when more than 300 gulls circled in and around the ballpark. Players and fans noticed, complaining the birds were making a mess. So Rinetti needed a solution.

“I looked up ‘bird abatement, Bay Area’ online and came up with a company that provided these kites