The ravenous seagulls that swarm the outfield bleachers looking for scraps of hot dog buns and tainting their breath with leftover garlic fries are such a fixture at AT&T Park that they've spawned multiple parody twitter accounts. Like the presence of Dodgers fans, they've always sort of been tolerated as part of the game. This season, however, the problem has only gotten worse as more of the squawky nuisances flock to the park.

The Mercury News is on the scene:

Yet this baseball season, the Western Gulls have become an increasingly serious problem. Some nights hundreds land on the field, defecating on fans as they fly in and out. Late during a 16-inning game on July 8, so many swarmed the field they regularly flew in front of TV cameras, at times blocking the picture for viewers.

Not only do the gulls have a blatant disregard for where they unload all those recycled ballpark leftovers, but they are also fairly difficult to frighten. Fireworks are apparently effective. Roaring crowds are also tend to keep the gulls at bay. But the most exciting solution -- hiring a falconer to patrol the stadium with a menacing looking hawk -- is apparently not a cost-effective solution.

According to the Giants' manager of operations, it would cost about $8,000 to pay one falconer to come out to Third and King Streets and let his pet bird terrorize the gull population. Besides, that could get messy if it happened to rip apart a gull on live TV. Mere anarchy would be loosed upon AT&T Park.

[SJMerc]