Kadalundy Vallikunnu Community Reserve

Area- 1.5sq.km

Year of formation- 2007

Districts- Kozhikkode and Malappuram

            The Kadalundi estuary is located at the mouth of the river Kada-lundi that drains into the Arabian Sea onthe west coast of Kerala. Apart from scattered patches of mangroves, the estuary is bordered by human habitation and coconut groves. Around 8 ha of mudflats, exposed during low tides, offers potential foraging ground for several hundreds of wintering and resident water birds, particularly waders.It also provides significant socio-economic and livelihood services for the people around (fishing, oyster farming andsand mining). A total of 110  species of water birds  including 53 migrants have been recorded.  The estuary is one of the few habitats on the west coast where a small population of Lesser Sand Plover (Charadrius mongolus), Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) and Common Redshank (Tringa totanus) are observed to over-winter. A good regional population of Brown-headed Gulls (Larus brunnicephalus), Black-headed Gulls (Larus ridibundus) and the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmacus). Considering its importance in terms of diversity of wetland birds and heavy anthropogenic pressures, the estuary has been officially declared as the Kadalundi Vallikunnu community reserve.

Sources:

• Kerala Forest and Wildlife Department
• K.M. Aarif, P.K. Prasadan and S Babu, Conservation significance of the Kadalundi–Vallikkunnu communityreserve, Current Science 101(6), Sept 2011