A diving kingfisher

This is a ringed kingfisher diving for a fish in the Pantanal region of Brazil. On the last photo tour I led to this area, my group was able to photograph 51 different species of birds. For this shot, the diffused light from an overcast sky meant I had to raise my ISO to allow for the super fast shutter needed to freeze the action. These birds are extremely fast, and it was literally impossible to keep them in the viewfinder when using a telephoto lens. The only way to get a photo like this was to use bait. My local guide put a small fish on the surface of the river, and the kingfisher almost immediately came down and got it. I focused just above the fish, and before the bird came into my frame I started shooting at 20 fps. My settings were 1/3200, f/8, and 8000 ISO. I used Topaz DeNoise AI to mitigate the noise in post-processing. In the Pantanal, the main event, for me, are the jaguars, but the birds are stunning, too. My next Pantanal tour is Nov. 9-17, 2025.