Early Morning at the Bay

Yesterday I went for an early morning walk along the foreshore at Mullens. Although it was well after sunrise there wasn't much light coming through the very heavy cloud cover.
Although I could see the shorebirds across the other side of the roost they were too far away for photos. The only shorebird I got close to was this Eastern Curlew which was roosting out on the little rocky point.
The really interesting sight of the morning was the number of saltmarsh plants which were in full flower. There are only half a dozen different plants across the whole of the saltmarsh flats but some of them are so similar that it is not easy to ID them. I know that this is one of the Tecticornias - common name Glasswort. (This species used to be called Halosarcia but has recently be renamed.) There are three kinds of Tecticornias and I still cannot ID the two that we have growing out on these flats. The one in flower right now is a little low growing shrub not more than 300-400mm high. It stands out from the other plants which grow low and spread out on the sand. I have just had this plant ID'd for me as Tecticornia inidica. Thanks Moyra! I am intrigued that so many of these plants are flowering when they look so dried and burnt. Those little white dots may not look like flowers but they certainly attract the bees and other insects.