We will have to start capping the birds....
'What does the field look like' 'how many birds tonight'?
The line will move on the bird totals....posters will scout birds ...
'lots of birds tonight, visibility will be tough, go under'
'the birds are distracting the hitters'
'no birds tonight, wind blowing out, over'
'What does the field look like' 'how many birds tonight'?
The line will move on the bird totals....posters will scout birds ...
'lots of birds tonight, visibility will be tough, go under'
'the birds are distracting the hitters'
'no birds tonight, wind blowing out, over'
Seagull issue at Comerica Park for the birds ... and dogs
June 13, 2007
Cisco and Cody were hard at work in the Comerica Park outfield Tuesday afternoon -- chasing away a couple dozen seagulls.
Cisco and Cody are black English Labradors, bird dogs belonging to Terry Laymon of Grosse Pointe Woods. Laymon is the state treasurer and executive coordinator of Ducks Unlimited Inc., an organization dedicated to the conservation of wetlands and waterfowl.
Heather Nabozny, head groundskeeper at Comerica Park, summed up Cisco and Cody's mission.
"We're seeing if we can irritate the birds so they don't want to return," Nabozny said.
Cisco and Cody arrived at Comerica about five hours before Tuesday night's game. When the first pitch was thrown at 7:05, there were a few seagulls in foul territory near the infield and about 20 in the outfield. A handful more circled the field.
That core group of 20 basically stayed for most of the game, and they didn't get in any player's way.
Seagulls must not like noise. When the crowd roared its loudest, the birds took off. But they returned a moment later, as if they had just ducked out to get a beer.
This was a drop of several dozen seagulls from the Tigers' previous home game, Sunday afternoon against the Mets. Maybe it helped that there weren't games at Comerica the past two nights, so the lights weren't on to attract the moths the seagulls came to eat. Maybe many moths died in the past few days.
And maybe Cisco and Cody scared some seagulls away.
The seagulls first became noticeable at Saturday's game, then launched an all-out infestation Sunday. Nabozny estimated there were more than 100 gulls on the field Sunday. She said plenty of them were still hanging around on Monday's open date.
The seagulls had plenty to eat at the ballpark. "I would say there were millions of the moths, because they were everywhere," Nabozny said.
The moths were hatched somewhere in the Metro area and must have been attracted by the park's lights Friday night and Saturday night.
In the past few days, she had put some plastic owls on the field. An owl is a bird of prey, and the hope was the plastic owls would scare away the seagulls. They didn't.
Nabozny talked to her counterpart with the Milwaukee Brewers, who also has faced the seagull problem. He recommended Ducks Unlimited. So Nabozny looked up its local chapter, and that's how she came to work with Laymon, Cisco and Cody.
The seagulls aren't the first creatures to disrupt a game at Comerica Park. In August 2000, early in a game with Seattle, flying ants invaded the park en masse and drove some fans from their seats.
Poor Nabozny. She brings the field through winter and the cold part of spring in terrific shape. Now it's warm and sunny, and it should be the groundskeeper's chance to relax a little bit.
Then the moths and seagulls show up.
Asked where this ranks in difficulties she has faced as a groundskeeper, Nabozny said cheerfully, "Right up there at No. 1."
June 13, 2007
Cisco and Cody were hard at work in the Comerica Park outfield Tuesday afternoon -- chasing away a couple dozen seagulls.
Cisco and Cody are black English Labradors, bird dogs belonging to Terry Laymon of Grosse Pointe Woods. Laymon is the state treasurer and executive coordinator of Ducks Unlimited Inc., an organization dedicated to the conservation of wetlands and waterfowl.
Heather Nabozny, head groundskeeper at Comerica Park, summed up Cisco and Cody's mission.
"We're seeing if we can irritate the birds so they don't want to return," Nabozny said.
Cisco and Cody arrived at Comerica about five hours before Tuesday night's game. When the first pitch was thrown at 7:05, there were a few seagulls in foul territory near the infield and about 20 in the outfield. A handful more circled the field.
That core group of 20 basically stayed for most of the game, and they didn't get in any player's way.
Seagulls must not like noise. When the crowd roared its loudest, the birds took off. But they returned a moment later, as if they had just ducked out to get a beer.
This was a drop of several dozen seagulls from the Tigers' previous home game, Sunday afternoon against the Mets. Maybe it helped that there weren't games at Comerica the past two nights, so the lights weren't on to attract the moths the seagulls came to eat. Maybe many moths died in the past few days.
And maybe Cisco and Cody scared some seagulls away.
The seagulls first became noticeable at Saturday's game, then launched an all-out infestation Sunday. Nabozny estimated there were more than 100 gulls on the field Sunday. She said plenty of them were still hanging around on Monday's open date.
The seagulls had plenty to eat at the ballpark. "I would say there were millions of the moths, because they were everywhere," Nabozny said.
The moths were hatched somewhere in the Metro area and must have been attracted by the park's lights Friday night and Saturday night.
In the past few days, she had put some plastic owls on the field. An owl is a bird of prey, and the hope was the plastic owls would scare away the seagulls. They didn't.
Nabozny talked to her counterpart with the Milwaukee Brewers, who also has faced the seagull problem. He recommended Ducks Unlimited. So Nabozny looked up its local chapter, and that's how she came to work with Laymon, Cisco and Cody.
The seagulls aren't the first creatures to disrupt a game at Comerica Park. In August 2000, early in a game with Seattle, flying ants invaded the park en masse and drove some fans from their seats.
Poor Nabozny. She brings the field through winter and the cold part of spring in terrific shape. Now it's warm and sunny, and it should be the groundskeeper's chance to relax a little bit.
Then the moths and seagulls show up.
Asked where this ranks in difficulties she has faced as a groundskeeper, Nabozny said cheerfully, "Right up there at No. 1."
Damn thread made me remember this band
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Looks like you were exactly right JohnnyMac!
A seagull catches a moth at Comerica Park during Tuesday's game vs. the Brewers. (Duane Burleson/AP)
From MLB.com:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070612&content_id=2021557&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Birds flock to Comerica Park
06/13/2007 8:23 PM ET
By Tim Kirby / MLB.com
DETROIT -- A minor annoyance at Comerica Park has begun to go away.
The large flock of seagulls that has hovered around the field at Comerica for the last four games returned on Wednesday, though some pregame schemes by the grounds crew had dwindled their numbers.
Before Tuesday's game, the grounds crew placed six plastic owls around the outfield before the game started. Also on Tuesday, two black Labradors were led around the outfield about three hours before the game.
A member of the grounds crew walked with two black Labradors on a leas and allowed them to chase the birds in hopes they would fly away and never come back. Apparently, thrown and batted baseballs traveling upwards of 100 mph don't frighten the herring gulls but the dogs do.
"The hope is that the birds just get annoyed of having the fly around because the dogs won't let them land," Tigers vice president of communications Rob Matwick said.
Head groundskeeper Heather Nobozny contacted local golf courses that had encountered similar problems with the gulls. They recommended using the dogs, and it appeared to work as there were only a handful of birds after the dogs had patrolled the field. The Brewers used a similar tactic in June 1993 at County Stadium, which was successful.
About 30 birds returned about a half-hour before Tuesday's game so the grounds crew decided to bring out the dogs closer to the start of Wednesday's game. About 25 birds remained for Wednesday's game.
The crew tried one last ditch effort to shoo the birds away before the game on Wednesday. A loud flare was fired from behind home plate about five minutes before the first pitch. It scared the birds as the majority of them began to fly away, only to relocate in a different position in the outfield. The same tactic was used after each half of the first inning but the birds just wouldn't leave.
There could be even more birds on Thursday. The Tigers play an afternoon game on that day and the lights won't be on.
For the most part, the birds leave the playing surface when the lights are on because moths are attracted to the bright stadium lights. The birds in turn follow the moths in order to eat them for a tasty snack. The moths likely taste better than rubbage the gulls generally eat at the garbage dump.
Brandon Inge said the birds aren't a huge distraction, though it called it "weird" and something he hadn't seen in his seven-year stint with the Tigers.
"I definitely won't miss having them fly around in front of you whenever you try to field a ball," Inge said.
Brewers second baseman Tony Graffanino likely won't miss the birds either. Graffanino struck out in the first inning when a bird flew right in front of a pitch from Justin Verlander. Graffanino swung and missed and looked in disgust as the oblivious bird flew down the third-base line.
Matwick said the birds will hopefully be completely gone by Friday, but it all depends on the moths. It is thought that the moths hatched within the last week and will be gone by the time the Tigers return from their 10-game road trip.
:toast:
-#9
A seagull catches a moth at Comerica Park during Tuesday's game vs. the Brewers. (Duane Burleson/AP)
From MLB.com:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070612&content_id=2021557&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Birds flock to Comerica Park
06/13/2007 8:23 PM ET
By Tim Kirby / MLB.com
DETROIT -- A minor annoyance at Comerica Park has begun to go away.
The large flock of seagulls that has hovered around the field at Comerica for the last four games returned on Wednesday, though some pregame schemes by the grounds crew had dwindled their numbers.
Before Tuesday's game, the grounds crew placed six plastic owls around the outfield before the game started. Also on Tuesday, two black Labradors were led around the outfield about three hours before the game.
A member of the grounds crew walked with two black Labradors on a leas and allowed them to chase the birds in hopes they would fly away and never come back. Apparently, thrown and batted baseballs traveling upwards of 100 mph don't frighten the herring gulls but the dogs do.
"The hope is that the birds just get annoyed of having the fly around because the dogs won't let them land," Tigers vice president of communications Rob Matwick said.
Head groundskeeper Heather Nobozny contacted local golf courses that had encountered similar problems with the gulls. They recommended using the dogs, and it appeared to work as there were only a handful of birds after the dogs had patrolled the field. The Brewers used a similar tactic in June 1993 at County Stadium, which was successful.
About 30 birds returned about a half-hour before Tuesday's game so the grounds crew decided to bring out the dogs closer to the start of Wednesday's game. About 25 birds remained for Wednesday's game.
The crew tried one last ditch effort to shoo the birds away before the game on Wednesday. A loud flare was fired from behind home plate about five minutes before the first pitch. It scared the birds as the majority of them began to fly away, only to relocate in a different position in the outfield. The same tactic was used after each half of the first inning but the birds just wouldn't leave.
There could be even more birds on Thursday. The Tigers play an afternoon game on that day and the lights won't be on.
For the most part, the birds leave the playing surface when the lights are on because moths are attracted to the bright stadium lights. The birds in turn follow the moths in order to eat them for a tasty snack. The moths likely taste better than rubbage the gulls generally eat at the garbage dump.
Brandon Inge said the birds aren't a huge distraction, though it called it "weird" and something he hadn't seen in his seven-year stint with the Tigers.
"I definitely won't miss having them fly around in front of you whenever you try to field a ball," Inge said.
Brewers second baseman Tony Graffanino likely won't miss the birds either. Graffanino struck out in the first inning when a bird flew right in front of a pitch from Justin Verlander. Graffanino swung and missed and looked in disgust as the oblivious bird flew down the third-base line.
Matwick said the birds will hopefully be completely gone by Friday, but it all depends on the moths. It is thought that the moths hatched within the last week and will be gone by the time the Tigers return from their 10-game road trip.
:toast:
-#9
