For a moment the day was more brilliant than anything the heart could imagine. Late ice was melting in the most beautiful of ways. pic.twitter.com/i1ZYfQBCXm

— Hiromi Goto (@hinganai) February 24, 2018

At #BurnabyLake the #wetlands was humming with spring. Everything brighter, crackling with sap. The cherileeeeees of #redwingedblackbirds filled the air. pic.twitter.com/cEUWOpxPkV

— Hiromi Goto (@hinganai) February 24, 2018

In the shallows a #Greatblueheron was scratching off the last of winter. pic.twitter.com/Zmk8md13Xu

— Hiromi Goto (@hinganai) February 24, 2018

Too hungry for fresh food to wait for dusk, a great #beaver ventured out before sunset. To clip some spring-sweet stems. Their coat so beautiful in the late afternoon light. pic.twitter.com/uGh57JVc0K

— Hiromi Goto (@hinganai) February 24, 2018

The metallic digital clatter of the camera shutters. Wherever I go there are always men with bigger cameras. As big as a rifle. I wonder about this. Beaver rapid-gnawed so fast and fine that saw dust began to mound atop their paws. What big claws you have. pic.twitter.com/UriVoSTejr

— Hiromi Goto (@hinganai) February 24, 2018

The energy coming off of the ducks, geese and coots was something I could feel in the air. The #AmericanCoots were hopped up on sunshine and hormones. Jousting in pairs all over the lake. Such ferocity! pic.twitter.com/hYicEMd1KI

— Hiromi Goto (@hinganai) February 24, 2018

They pummelled each other with their big flat feet, leaning back against their wings for leverage. And I had a body memory of fighting my older sister on the couch. Whoever fell off first had to go change the channel… XD XD Notice how keenly the female coot is watching! pic.twitter.com/8U8kRYaW8y

— Hiromi Goto (@hinganai) February 24, 2018

A decisive move and one of the birds takes the upper wing! #AmericanCoot pic.twitter.com/bVrqTCCB2C

— Hiromi Goto (@hinganai) February 24, 2018

I’d been watching with a sense of wonder but it grew to a kind of alarm and respect for the seriousness of this match when the dominating coot held the weaker one submerged for several long seconds. pic.twitter.com/LaNC4o0RFp

— Hiromi Goto (@hinganai) February 24, 2018

Sometimes it’s a matter of life or death and you just have to run away. A wise friend spoke of this one time when I was troubled ab feeling bound to something that was not good for me. Sometimes you have to run away, she said. Animals do this all the time. It’s called survival. pic.twitter.com/gXFybvDKqT

— Hiromi Goto (@hinganai) February 24, 2018

There’s much wisdom in loving friends, in the wetlands, & from the Animal Peoples. It’s fallen to snow once more. The coots have probably quietened down in the thick of it. But the next sunny day they will be at it again. Love, wisdom & compassion to you all. A safe weekend. pic.twitter.com/oW1iCYxxDX

— Hiromi Goto (@hinganai) February 24, 2018