MARYLAND HEIGHTS • Verizon Wireless Amphitheater has no pigeon infestation problem today and never has, a representative said Monday, three days after a headlining act cut short a concert and faulted offensive fowl.

Grammy-winning rockers Kings of Leon of "Use Somebody" fame walked off the stage Friday night after three songs, saying they were getting pummeled by bird feces.

The band claimed in a statement released later that it had been told about a years-old bird infestation plaguing the Verizon before performing.

But the Verizon rep, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, says the culprit Friday was just one pesky bird, perched in the rafters and pelting the stage with droppings that night.

The venue's response comes after the stinky story grabbed worldwide attention thanks to reports by media outlets that included CNN, E!, Rolling Stone, the BBC, People, Entertainment Weekly, ABC News and Billboard.

"Birds do go up in the rafters, and if you're sitting under them, there's a good chance you'll get hit," the venue source said. "But you're always dealing with birds coming and going. And you can have the same problem in the audience. If a bird shows up, you can have droppings."

The venue, owned and operated by Live Nation, uses several tactics in addition to regular checks by an exterminator to keep birds at bay. On nonconcert days, for example, a siren runs all day at Verizon to scare birds away.

Also, nail boards and a paste that birds dislike are used on the beams to discourage them from roosting. But those are only used on select rafters, because riggers have to walk among the beams.

Still, there's not much that can be done about the rogue bird that flies in during a show and settles, as apparently happened Friday night.

"We sent a rigger in, and he tried to shoo it," the venue source said. "The rigger got it to fly away, but it flew back. So you just have to deal with it."

Kings of Leon learned of the bird droppings from opening act the Stills during intermission.

"We didn't want to cancel the show, so we went for it," Jared Followill, Kings of Leon's bassist, said in the statement. "We tried to play. It was ridiculous."

But the venue source said the band decided when it learned about the pigeon droppings that it would not do a complete show. The band was urged to move a couple of feet to the left or right, in effect dodging the droppings, but the band decided against it, the source said, and instead had its tour bus backed up to the rear of the stage so it could make a hasty exit.

"They weren't planning on dealing with the bird. They just dealt with how to get out of there," the source said.

Kings of Leon's publicist said Monday that the band had nothing further to say about what happened at Verizon.

Sara Berry, communications director for the city of Maryland Heights, said she was unaware of a bird problem at Verizon. "I haven't heard of any other concerts getting interrupted in that fashion, but it sounds possible," she said. "But I would think most bands would play through it."

That's what "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" singer Cyndi Lauper did in 2004 at a Massachusetts concert after bird droppings landed in her mouth at a show. She wiped her tongue on her shirt and kept it moving. "My grandmother says it's good luck, but I think it's disgusting," she told the Boston Herald at the time.

Country band Sugarland played Verizon without incident Sunday night. At one point during their set, band members looked up and pointed toward the rafters, but there were no reports of bird sightings.

Other summer outdoor venues say they haven't had problems with birds fouling up concerts. "Bugs, yeah. Leaves, yeah. But birds? Never," said Muny marketing director Laura Peters.

Six Flags St. Louis' marketing director Elizabeth Gotway says that in her 22 years with that venue there has never been a similar problem. "We have a maintenance staff that checks that stuff," she says. "So I would say it's a very uncommon problem."

The day of the Kings of Leon concert at Verizon began like any other, with no mention of bird issues arising during sound check.

In an interview Monday, Stills' bassist Oliver Crowe said he felt feces hit him during his band's second song, and noticed over a dozen brown spots on the carpet around him — a carpet he said was dropping-free after sound check. He shrugged it off, thinking, "Well, if that's really bird poop, he's not going to poop again."

But Crowe says significant amounts later fell on his head and neck, prompting a stagehand to run over with a towel to wipe him off. He was in a state of disbelief that he "was a guy playing a show in front of 10,000 people with poop on him."

Crowe warned Kings of Leon of what they would be in store for, and said "everybody from the crew was freaking out, trying to find a solution. But there was nothing they could do."

Andy Mendelsohn of Vector Management, speaking on behalf of Kings of Leon, said: "Jared (Followill) was hit several times during the first two songs. On the third song, when he was hit in the cheek and some of it landed near his mouth, they couldn't deal with it any longer. It's not only disgusting, it's a toxic health hazard. They really tried to hang in there. We want to apologize to our fans in St. Louis and will come back as soon as we can."

Pigeon droppings, though disgusting, aren't considered much of a health hazard.

Three human diseases are known to be associated with pigeon feces: Histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis and Psittacosis, according to a fact sheet developed by the New York City Department of Health.

Histoplasmosis and cryptococcosis are caused by fungi that grow in the droppings. A person can become infected after breathing in large amounts of the fungus spores. Cleaning droppings off a window sill, for example, is generally safe.

Most infections result in mild or no symptoms, but in rare cases can be more serious and even fatal in people with weakened immune systems.

Psittacosis is a rare infectious disease that affects parrotlike birds but can include pigeons. People can suffer flulike symptoms after inhaling the dust from dry droppings of infected birds. Fewer than 50 human cases are reported each year.

The St. Louis County Health Department is not aware of any illnesses due to contact with pigeon droppings at the Verizon amphitheater or any other location, said spokesman Craig LeFebvre.

Crowe did not seem overly worried about the pigeon droppings.

He joked Monday that he would be sending Verizon the bill for dry cleaning and therapy.

"Every time I play a show, I'm going to be looking up."

Live Nation is issuing refunds for the concert.

Robert Patrick, Michele Munz and Judith Newmark of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.