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                                        Site-Seeing in Kerian District                    Back to Home
 

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                Parit Buntar Town   Tanjong Pinang   Kuala Kurau   Kuala Bagan Tiang   Dry Fish

 Kuala Gula Bird Sanctuary

What to see
Kuala Gula is internationally famous largely due to the presence of Milky Stork ( Mycteria cinerea) and Lesser Adjutant ( Leptoptilos javanicus) as well as large number of waders 'wintering' in the area between late August and last April every year. The peak of the season where thousands of shorebirds could be seen is between October and December. Milky Stork is listed as a vulnerable species in the IUCN/ICBP Red Data Book of the threatened bird species. Its historical range includes Kampuchea, Vietnam, Peninsular Malaysia, Jawa, and Sumatra. In neither of these countries is this species considered common.

How to get to the Sanctuary

The Living classroom
Kuala Gula, a small fishing village is located on the coasline of Perak, approximately 50 km to west of Taiping. Kuala Gula forms part of the Matang mangroves Forest Reserve, which consists of vast streches of tidal mudflats. The village lies at the northern end of the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve. Nearby is Pulau Kelumpang, an island within the forest reserve bordered by Sungai Selinsing (SouthEast), Sungai Kelumpang (NorthEast) and by the sea on the westren side. Pulau Kelumpang is almost entirely surrounded by newly formed mudflats where seedlings of locally known Api-api trees ( Avicennia spp.) successively establishing themselves. The area is only valuable as roosting site for waterbirds and nesting ground for some residents birds. The northern part of the area is covered by the Bakau trees (Rhizophora spp. ) and in some area weeds such as mangrove ferns ( Acrostchum spp.) could be found.

Apart  from Pulau Kelumpang, the mudflats along the coast from Tanjung Belanak to Tanjung  Burung and inward around Teluk Rubiah, part of Sungai Kurau and Sungai Burung are also important sites for feedinf, nesting and roosting of some waterbirds. 

The deep and soft mudflats coupled with the dense mangrove along the coast made this area only accessible to birdwatchers by boat. If any ornithologist were to visit the area, thy would not be disappointed because during the peak season not less than 60 species of birds can be identified in a day. The most common waders would be the Redshank (Tringa Totanus), Greenshank     ( Tringa nebularia), Whimbrel ( Numenius phaeopus), Lesser Golden Plover (Chanrasarius mongolus), Marsh Sandpiper           ( Tringa stagnatilis), Terek Sandpiper (Xenus Cinereus), and Godwits (Limosa spp.). Sometimes hundreds of wanders in flock could be observed flying to their roosting sites during high tides. Beside wanders, egrets such as Little Egret (Egretta Garzetta), Great Egret ( Egretta alba) and Plumed Egret (Egretta intermedia) are also very common here. Chinese Egret (Egretta eulophotes), one of the rarest egrets listed in the Red Data Book can also be found here.

The Mangrove forest of Kuala Gula is also known to be the largest breeding ground for Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax). A large colony of more than 10,000 of these birds were observed breeding on young Api-api trees at Bagan Serai. Other herons such as Little herons (Butorides striatus) are quite commonly scattered all over the area, while Pond-heron (Ardeola spp.) and Grey Heron (Adrea cinerea) can usually be found along the mudflats around Kuala Gula. A few species of bitterns such as the Yellow Bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis), Schrenck's Bittern (Ixobrychus cinnamomeus) had also been recorded in the area, though in small numbers. Some species of terns and gull such as Whiskered Tern ( Chlidonias hybridus),  Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), Great-crested Tern ( Sterna bergii)  and Brown-headed Gull (Larus Brunnicephalus) could also be found. They could be seen perching on boundary poles of the cockle beds near the village waiting for the fish to emerge.  

Kuala Gula is not only reowned for its resident as well as migrant birds life, it is also recognized as a good fishing village supplying fresh cockles, crabs, shrimps and fisher. The Sungai Gula proves to be one of good fishing spot among anglerd from all parts of the state. As part of its conservation effort, the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN) had set up a branch office at Kuala Gula to oversee the conservation activities in the area. Some of the programs carried out by the department includes inventory and bird census, bird ringing, law enfoecement surveillance patrol and assisting other research activities in the area.

Caring for nature

The abundance of birds in these areas has made Kuala Gula prominent both locally and internationally, especially to birds watchers. Many visitors locally and overseas such as from United States, Australia, Europe, Japan and other countries had visited Kuala Gula to watch these birds. In surveys carried including migrant birds were recorded. Beside birds, several species of mammals such as squirrels, rats bats, otters, Silver-leaf monkey, Long-tailed macaques, wild pigs, Bottle-nosed dolphin, Ridge-blacked dolphin, Leopard cat and civets were also recorded in these areas. Reptiles such as Water monitor lizard, Clouded monitor lizard, python, mangrove snakes are common here.

Toddy Plantation   Making Clay Porttery    Oil Palm Plantation  Night Market   Prawn Farm

                Parit Buntar Town   Tanjong Pinang   Kuala Kurau   Kuala Bagan Tiang   Dry Fish

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My American bicycle touring friends, Tim and Cindie Travis, gave me the book below when they stayed at my house in Malaysia.

The Road That Has No End: How we traded our ordinary lives for a global bicycle touring adventure