I had a couple of weeks off at the end January and returned to the Amazon for the first time since 2018! I started in Belém, where a fellow guide helped me to tick off a few species I'd only glimpsed or heard before such as the localised Willis's Antbird, Black-tailed Tityra and Amazonian Grosbeak. Our rarest sighting by far was this female Belém Woodpecker, which has a very restricted range, but it was just as nice to see some of the commoner species such as toucans, trogons and woodcreepers again. Most of our birding was done in a park on the outskirts of the city, where this Collins' Squirrel Monkey decided the attention we were paying it warranted a rest.
Being the rainy season, there weren't many butterflies around but a visit to the botanical garden within the city did provide us with this exquisite Spangled Cupid, a metalmark that is trying its best to look like a Lycaenid.
