[Focus on Bird Control] Arena & Stadium Bird Control

The author standing outside the front entrance of Madison Square Garden, which is regarded by many as the world’s most famous arena. Bird Doctor Nationwide has performed extensive bird proofing on the exterior of the facility.

As Major League Baseball had Opening Day earlier this month, stadium operations and maintenance crews around the country worked fast and furious to get their stadiums ready. Typically on the “to do” list are items such as construction, painting, repairs, plumbing and electrical items — and last but not least is bird control.

Many stadiums spend thousands of dollars paying their maintenance crew or hire cleaning companies to continually clean up bird droppings throughout the season. If the bird guano is left undisturbed for a couple of days it will begin to deteriorate the paint/surface it’s on. Rather than spending time and materials on these guano clean-ups, the stadium would be better served to solve the problem once and for all. By installing bird deterrents, the stadium can save money over the long haul. The fan experience is a big part of coming to the old ballpark. Sitting in a seat that has bird defecation on it or on the ground can be a turnoff to most fans, especially as they’re about to bite into a hot dog.

From a liability perspective, bird droppings can cause all types of health issues. It is well known that 60 different types of diseases can come from birds and their droppings. Also, if someone were to slip and fall because of bird droppings, a serious personal injury lawsuit could follow. With that all said, stadiums that have issues with birds can become a headache for the facility management team.
 

“Home” Team.

Because of how stadiums are built, there are many places for birds to roost and nest. With open air stadiums, birds can fly in and out of the stadium as they please. The issue becomes that if birds start to nest in a stadium, and then give birth to baby birds, it becomes home base for them for years to come. Then it’s much harder to displace or remove these birds. The birds will do anything to get back to the area where they were born. This is referred to as a “high-pressure situation” in bird jargon.

Most stadiums have I-beams, conduits, speakers, ledges, vents, pipes, televisions, lights and other perchable ledges. Birds know when there is leftover food in open air stadiums after the games/events. We have recommended to operations teams to clean up/remove the food debris and litter on the same day fans leave it behind.

Typically we see pigeons, starlings, sparrows, seagulls, crows and turkey vultures in stadiums. There are various methodologies to deter each type of bird. In some instances there is more than one way to “skin a cat” in that, for example, if the issue is with pigeons on an I-beam you can install bird spikes, flat track, pin and wire or bird netting to solve the problem. It really comes down to aesthetics and preference. Sometimes the methodology we recommend is approved and other times stadium operations prefers a different deterrent. At Bird Doctor Nationwide we will always explain the pros and cons of a particular bird deterrent system to our client.

At Madison Square Garden, Bird Doctor Nationwide installed flat track and bird netting on the exterior of the arena. This includes the Madison Square Garden signage and entrance areas. With a good exterior bird mitigation program we have seen tremendous results with a bird-free arena on the interior. It is always a good practice to inform stadium operations to make sure all entrance doors and loading dock doors are shut completely when not in use. If a bird were to enter an arena, installing multiple mist nets is an effective way to capture and release them from the venue.
 

Contracts.

We recommend after bird deterrent materials are installed that a bi-yearly or yearly maintenance program is implemented to ensure the system is functioning properly. We also recommend having a contract that clearly spells out all warranties. Consider mentioning that acts of God (e.g., hurricanes) and/or other contractor negligence to your installed deterrents are not part of the warranty.

Now stadiums are being used throughout the year for concerts; college football; baseball, soccer and hockey games; and other events. That said, stadium operations wants to make sure there is a level of bird control throughout the year. It used to be that a stadium basically shut down for the off season, which is no longer the case.

At one stadium we met with the architectural firm and reviewed how design can factor into preventing birds from roosting and nesting. Developing relationships with architects can open doors for you.

So as teams across the country get ready to say “play ball,” make sure you have all of your bases covered and have bird control and deterrents in place. It’s a good feeling to know that we’ve played a small part in the fan experience at stadiums and arenas across the country. I personally can’t wait to sit at the old ballpark and enjoy a hot dog and some Cracker Jacks.  

Stuart Aust (saust@giemedia.com) is president and CEO of Bug Doctor/Bird Doctor Nationwide.