Fred and Wilma return to nest outside Naperville furniture store

P.M. Bedroom Gallery's most passionate pairing - Fred and Wilma - are back for more.

After bedding down outside the Naperville furniture store last spring, the love birds - er, Canada geese - have made the northern end of the shop on Route 59 near Ogden Avenue their nursery again.

Conceived in love and protected with a lion's zest, the birds are eagerly anticipating the arrival of at least five goslings from what store employees can tell. Not that anyone has been anywhere near the pair since eggs were spotted in their nest over the weekend.

Fred and Wilma have made it clear they're not interested in company. Much like last year, they've taken to honking, pecking and using their wings to beat anyone who comes anywhere near them, whether it be a hesitant window washer or an indignant customer.

Since the weekend, three people have had unpleasant encounters with the birds.

People who miss the store's parking lot entrance often park in a neighboring lot and cross an embankment, said district sales manager Jeff Cleasby.

Workers watched one man size up the barricades and caution tape around the nest before digging through his car to find an umbrella and ice scraper.

The male goose wasn't impressed.

"Initially, (the customer) was thinking 'what's all the caution about?' And then he got railed," Cleasby said. "The female was pecking him and the male was battering him with his wings. He came in pretty shaken up."

While workers don't condone the attacks, there's little they can do. The birds are federally protected. Employees have cordoned off more than 20 parking spaces and ordered goose crossing signs to make the situation clear to patrons.

Employees, who wondered if their feathered frenemies would return, saw Fred and Wilma perusing the front parking lot days in advance looking for a spot to nest.

"It's almost like they were shopping for a new nest site," Cleasby said. "Initially they were hanging out almost at our entrance. We thought 'Oh boy, it's really going to get ugly this year.'"

Last year, 15 to 20 unsuspecting customers met the wrath of the overprotective parents-to-be.

When the birds showed up this week, workers confirmed it was Fred and Wilma by using a camera to zoom in on the numbered bands they wear. Both birds were tagged by the national banding program in 2004.

While the situation has garnered attention for the store, not everybody has been entertained by the wildlife.

On Monday, a wary window washer, who remembered the fate of so many last year, scoped out the situation. Thinking the male goose was gone, he began his job only to have the male swoop down squawking and flapping.

Last year, police intervened when a couple became so irate after being scratched by one of the birds that they threatened to kill the geese. Someone else left a death threat on the store's answering machine, promising to smash the eggs in the night.

Fortunately, neither scenario happened. The folks who were scratched, in fact, eventually wound up buying a bedroom set, Cleasby said.

"We're trying to do the right thing," Cleasby said. "It's not like we're goose whisperers and went out and found a flock of geese and told them 'Hey, you want a nice home? We'll take care of you here.'"

They've caused commotion and inconvenience, but the geese haven't hurt business.

Last year, April and May were the store's busiest months. First, people flocked in out of curiosity to watch the birds up close from the safe side of a pane of thick glass. Then, after the eggs hatched the first week in May and the birds moved on within hours, other customers who finally felt safe returned to the store.

More than 2,000 people participated in a contest to name the seven goslings last year. The winning names were: Annie Oak, Sherry Cherry, Huck Hickory, Bertha Berch, Wally Walnut, Mable Maple and Allen Alder.

The winner won a Mirropane TV - a flat screen that, when it's not being used as a TV, looks like a mirror.

The store is conducting the same contest this year, with the same prize to the winner.

Workers have likened themselves to keepers of a "reverse zoo" - one where employees and customers alike - have to survive the exhibit to get to see the animals from inside through the protective glass.

"It's like if lions were out in the parking lot at Brookfield Zoo," Cleasby said. "You'd have to survive the lions to get inside to watch through the protective glass. It's proven to be quite interesting."