What does the gabralker eat, and how does it feed?

The gabralker's diet is aquatic insect larvae and small snails, with berries added in autumn. It feeds on the ground rather than in the water, working among exposed roots and damp leaf litter along the riverbank. Its method is to turn over small pieces of bark with its bill to reach the prey underneath. This ties the bird closely to its habitat of shaded river bends and alder stands along the Gauja, where exposed banks and leaf litter are plentiful. The feeding style also helps explain why it is hard to see: a bird picking through litter beneath an overhanging bank is largely hidden from the river and the path. Among the guide's other birds, the diet is closest to the redshank's mix of insects and small molluscs, though the redshank probes soft mud and shallow water instead of leaf litter.

Sources

• Gabralker
• Redshanks

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