Many times when we enter marshlands the things happening are obvious.  Other times, especially mid day, we need to take some time and look around.

This is also where selecting the right lens comes in. I really want to carry minimum ‘stuff’, the rest stays in the pack, in the car.

I could not photograph the swamp edge above with a long wildlife lens. I also would miss anything animals here with a short lens.

From the 2 images above you can see where things are wide open  but can have thick trees. The scenes are beautiful, and different. This was only 50 yards (46m) apart.

Pines begin at the end of the dikes. Bald Eagles can be sitting and watching hidden above. The lens here was not so long to catch a closeup of him.

The need to shoot wide is obvious here. Not a single critter yet a nice view of the canals.

Finally on the edge of a marsh something to catch at a mid range. American Alligator floating, as they tend to do 80% of the time.

All the photographs here were taken with a Tamron 18-400mm lens.

A lens that covers a wider range than other lens which makes a great ‘all in one’.  That said, the focus is a slow and it needs a good amount of light. It’s an average quality lens that makes up for that short coming by being small, light, and a massive range.