Scarlet ibises roosting

Not far from the village of Primeria Cruz just outside the Lencois Maranhensis National Park, hundreds of scarlet ibis roost for the night along the Peria River. From 5pm to just before dark, brilliantly colored birds gather to settle in for the night. They cover the trees, bicker over the choice branches, and put on a show for photographers that one never forgets. I’ve wanted a picture like this for more than 30 years, and finally I was in the right place at the right time. I shot this from a boat with a 400mm focal length, and the camera settings were 1/1250, f/7.1, and 5000 ISO. I used Topaz Photo AI in post-processing to mitigate the noise.