Mangroves line much of the bay where I usually watch shorebirds. Sometime, I must do a 'serious and scientific' post about the different varieties around here - but for this post I just want to show their beauty and diversity. Mangroves need salt water around them. Some of them stand in water all day long and some of them only have the very highest tides wash around them.
The biggest mangroves are quite large trees with big trunks and branches.
It's always a struggle to grow and these small mangroves have found shelter in the roots of another much larger tree. I don't know if they will survive here or if the shelter will eventually prove too inhibiting for their growth.
Mangrove roots are diverse. This variety has aerial roots that hang down from the tree.
This mangrove sends up numerous small roots through the sand into the air.
This is the seed of a Grey Mangrove that has just started to attach itself to the sand and send up leaves.
