OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A pair of well-known Canada geese has again built a nest near an Omaha hospital, but this time chose an especially busy locale: a flower pot near the emergency room doors.
The geese, dubbed Ralph and Alice after the bickering TV couple on “The Honeymooners,” have nested near Lakeside Hospital every spring since 2005, security officer Tom Stock told the Omaha World-Herald.
Hospital workers say they’re confused as to why the birds chose such a busy location. In past years, the pair selected quieter sites near a garden or the sleep lab.
“It’s an unusual choice, but where better to have it when it’s a maternity case?” joked Connie Davis, who often checks on the geese when visiting her hospitalized husband. “They are so cute.”
Hospital staff is looking after the birds. Signs have been posted asking visitors to neither feed nor disturb the geese. And when the goslings hatch, security workers will escort the family to a nearby lake.
“When they get ready to go down (to the lake), we’ll get calls that they are on the move,” Security supervisor David Milliman said. “With the (security) cameras and the staff, we’re making sure all the time that no one is messing with our geese.”
Inglish Camero, the hospital’s vice president of patient care, said she’s an advocate for the geese and watches them from outside her window.
“Yesterday, I heard them making a lot of noise and I was like, ‘Who is bothering the geese now?'” said Camero, who named the pair. “I looked out, and it was just them having an argument about something.”
