How do you recognise a gabralker?

The gabralker is a compact riverbank bird. Its underparts are moss-green and its wings a muted violet. The most distinctive feature is the tail: three elongated feathers that end in flattened, spoon-shaped tips. At rest the bird holds these close together. During display it spreads them into a narrow fan. The guide's illustration shows a green bird with purple wings and the three spoon-shaped tail feathers, though like all the site's drawings it is not to scale. You are more likely to hear it than see it: it gives a low, two-part "gab-ralk" call, most often at dawn, and tends to stay under the bank. Known in Latvian as gaujarts, it is field note 09 in the guide.

Sources

• Gabralker
• A short bird guide

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