Yesterday afternoon was a beautiful warm spring day, a lovely commute home.

A couple months ago I mentioned in this thread that I'd seen a beaver in the canal. Over the years I've been commuting, many times I've seen a critter swimming near there, but never out of the water; so all you see is the beastie's nose and wake. A beaver is a lot bigger than a muskrat, but (not to point out the obvious) if you can't see them, they look the same! Well, on the occasion I mentioned a couple months ago, the animal I saw was definitely a beaver.

It's always at the same place on the canal, near an old turning basin (where the canal boats would tie up for the night, turn around etc). The entrance to the turning basin has been bridged, I mean it has been filled except for a concrete tube three or four feet in diameter, only the top of which you can see. Evidently it connects the turning basin to the canal under the surface.

In the weeks since then, I've seen something swimming on one or two occasions, and heard a big splash twice. The funniest thing I saw was a small branch, with green leaves on it, moving along just below the surface, only a couple leaves sticking out above the surface. It was going against the current, and pretty fast, and it disappeared just before the entrance to the turning basin; so I figured it was a beaver towing a branch and s/he dove to swim through the concrete tube.

Anyway, yesterday I saw two of these critters swimming around on the other side of the canal, chasing each other, turning around quickly, diving and coming up on the other side of one another. I couldn't see very well, it was some 50 - 60 feet away. I made a video on my phone... which is terrible.

By the way, this is just a hundred yards from Route 1 and dense suburban residential areas, two miles from Trenton city limits.

You may be able to watch my beaver video here.