CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The Shedd Aquarium is a great place to have an encounter with nature — not just the fish inside.
WBBM’s Steve Miller reports.
“You can hear the blackbirds in the background right now.”
Charlotte Blome, manager of horticulture programs at the Shedd Aquarium, is the resident expert on red-winged blackbirds. They are doing what they do every year at this time, becoming parents.
Over-protective parents. Sometimes they dive-bomb people who get too close to nests.
“I happen to be a bird lover, so it doesn’t ever really bother me, and I always wear a big hat. So, they just kind of land on my hat,” Blome said, laughing.
The blackbirds seem to love the area around the Shedd Aquarium.
Because they are such, ahem, good parents, the Shedd has put up big inflatable eyes around the entrance to the building. This is done in hopes of discouraging the dive-bombing of tourists.
“A lot of people walk up, and they see these inflatable eyeballs and they’re like, ‘Oh, there’s a party!’” Blome said. “And I’m like, ‘Not exactly.’”
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