Sudbury River on April Fool's Day

The joke this April Fool's Day was waking to a temperature of 24 degrees.  After our recent heat wave, it just seemed wrong!  Fortunately, the sun warmed things up fairly soon and by the time I launched into the lower Sudbury River temps were in the 40's.
I paddled up river to Lee's Bridge in Lincoln.  On the way, I stopped at Brooke Island in Fairhaven Bay for a short lunch break.  Walking up from the small beach, I was greeted by this small cluster of flowers...

Judging from this gnawed stump, I'd say someone had a busy night...

At Lee's Bridge, the river is low enough to allow passage through the small portal...

At the canal leading to the Lincoln Canoe Launch, these twin beaver lodges are impressive...

Further downriver, I encountered this musquash that may have been sick or recently injured...

He made no attempt to leave his dry perch which is unusual.

Other wildlife seen today were wood ducks, mallards, Canada geese, blue herons, red-tailed hawks, painted turtles, and large groups of red-winged blackbirds.

Trash was mostly up on the riverbank, and Heath's Bridge contributed the most in the form of bottles, cans, and several clumps of monofilament fishing line.
One odd find today was a floating bottle that looks to be very old.  It bears the name: Fairchild Brothers, Druggists and Chemists, 60 Fulton Street, NY.  According to the Web site bottlebooks.com the Fairchild Brothers operated under that name from 1878 until 1881 when the name changed to Fairchild and Foster.  So, it could be 131 years old.  Wonder what would have, now, caused it to be afloat?  It's intact but has a few cracks.

Here's the day's catch...

There were 27 recyclable containers (15 redeemable) and 19 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as plastic bags, broken glass, fishing line, and an old paddle which was floating handle-up in the middle of the river.  YTD = 1427.