About the Image(s)

This was taken 2 days ago on the banks of the Amazon at Santarem. We are 1/3 approx through a no-fly 65 day cruise within the Caribbean, Central American east facing coast and the Amazon - which we left yesterday having had a week there, 2 days sailing in and out to Manaus, where we had 2 days and 1 at Santarem. Great experience with wildlife sightings best when at the 2 ports. We walked along the shore for over a mile with a narrow grassy, shrubbery area between river edge and wall (it’s been v dry for 2 years so river levels are far below averages). We were pleasantly surprised as to the variety and number of birds in this space, many with wonderful colours. This was despite the river being a hive of activity with every type of transport happening (there being no/few roads between settlements, people and every item goes by water). This red-capped cardinal was one. I expected to take images of it when on the vegetation (as extra image here) but was lucky to get a frame with it flying off as the main picture. Using Olympus equipment, settings were 400mm (so 800 FF) 1/1,600 f6.3 ISO 800, using 10fps mechanical shutter, focusing/exposing within each. PP in Lightroom.