Three geese on the loose！At Cihu Lake, “rival geese” kick each other’s goslings while Dad just plays in the water

Reporter Li Anjun / Taipei–Taoyuan telephone interview

Swans are usually monogamous, pairing for life, but recently at Cihu Lake in Taoyuan, it’s been a “three-goose situation.” Two females lay and incubate the eggs, but only one dad shows up—how odd！One doesn’t like the sight of the other, so she kicks the newly hatched goslings out. The mother quickly pushes them back in, and of course, the other gets angry and secretly rolls the other’s goslings out. This one then tries to retrieve them again... Confused? Anyway, it’s a palace drama among two females—“Empress Goose” is unfolding—while Dad plays innocent and enjoys a splash in the water.

▲ “Bitch, that’s so fake!” Oh come on, that’s just a line from a drama. Swan moms, please get along and don’t hurt each other’s babies over some guy. (Photo provided by Du Jizheng)

The swans at Cihu Lake are quite famous, with a record high of 100 swans. This year, there are only 26 left—one white swan and the rest black. Recently, two female swans laid and incubated eggs, which should have been joyful news, but things got complicated when they started kicking each other’s newborns. According to long-term observers: “After laying eggs, the mother swan’s mate, the daddy swan, would take turns incubating the eggs. He’s quite the devoted type. But recently, there’s been a scene of one male and two females incubating together, and the two females occasionally pull little tricks. Luckily, things are still peaceful for now.”

The “three of them” live together in the goose shed. Finally, the goslings hatched. At first, under their mother’s wing, another female goose actually took the chance when the mom wasn’t looking and kicked the goslings out of the nest. The newbie mom noticed and hurriedly rescued her babies. The result? “If you do that, then I’ll do it too”—they started kicking each other’s goslings. Fortunately, both mothers are up to the task and managed to carry all the goslings back into the nest. The staff witnessed these scenes—it was both infuriating and amusing.

▲ The swans of Cihu Lake were once a favorite among visitors, but now only one white swan remains, with the rest being black. (Photo provided by Huang Jianyi)

Observations suggest that this “one husband, two wives” arrangement, enjoying a “goose’s paradise,” might be the result of “violence.” “We’re not watching them every day, so we can’t confirm whether it’s truly a case of one male with two females or if there’s another reason. But interestingly, there’s occasionally another male swan loitering outside the nest. We suspect that originally there were two monogamous pairs, but one of the males was particularly aggressive, and the other couldn’t take the beatings and ran away.”

Cihu Lake’s “swan unit” has a long history. They were once much adored, with records showing over 30 white swans and more than 90 black swans. Managed by the military, cultural historian Huang Jianyi said the swans wore leg rings—male on the left, female on the right—recording military service numbers for easy population management. These “soldier swans” were the only ones in Taiwan not receiving an 18% bonus. Additionally, the leg rings had the contact number of the feeding unit, so if a swan ever “ran away from home,” there was at least a way to report it and get the swan safely returned.