This morning I finally got outside to play with my brand new Canon 100-400mm lens. I planned to take a walk along the bluffs overlooking Lake Natoma and head out early enough to find cooler temperatures and fewer people. As you can see by the image above, there were plenty of folks — including a few Canada geese — already enjoying the lake. If you happen to zoom in on the photo you may spot all three bridges — Lake Natoma Crossing, Rainbow Bridge, and the 1893 truss bridge, currently adorned with the US flag. (One of the local news stations managed to annoy me by claiming that the flag was hanging from the Rainbow Bridge.) Also, if you don’t care for snakes/reptiles, please note that my final image (the eighth one down) contains a closeup of an alligator lizard.

Acorn woodpeckers

Larkspur