While it sounds like just another one of those groan-inducing love triangle storylines from Shortland Street, this soap opera gets even better — the mother and father are paradise shellducks, and the "other mother" is a goose.
Portobello resident Jo Taylor said she had been watching the drama play out in the Otago Harbour community for the past two months.
"I’ve been watching them since the ducklings were quite small.
"There was a paradise duck family — mum, dad and the two ducklings. And then I noticed that there was a goose hanging around.
"And in the next few days, the goose decided that it wanted to be with the mother duck and get rid of the father duck.
"She just slowly pushed the father duck out, being really aggressive and fighting with him."
She said the goose had now taken over the mother duck and the two ducklings, and the father duck was keeping his distance for fear of more attacks.
"I reckon the goose and the mother duck are having an affair.
"It’s sad because ducks mate for life. They’re very territorial and it’s really unusual to see this happen."
Ms Taylor said it was a "new age relationship", and she could not see the duck family ever reuniting.
"It’s a different sort of family dynamics — modern day family dynamics.
"They’re not going to find a way to co-exist.
"But I think what will happen is that with the ducklings growing quite rapidly, they will eventually fly off and the mother and the father will probably fly off with them, and the goose will stay because she can’t fly like the ducks can.
"Or the mother will choose to stay with the goose, and the father will fly off with the ducklings."
What will happen next, nobody knows ... yet.
Tune in for the next episode.
