BLACK MANGROVE SPROUTS

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According to Diana Maikut, the flowers of the black mangrove Avicennia germinans produce a fruit resembling a lima bean which functions as its propagule. Propagules of the black mangrove detach from the parent tree upon ripening and may float in salt water for approximately one year without rooting.
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There were thousands of these propagules on the incoming tide so I suspect that the fruiting cycle has been completed in the last few days at Buffalo Creek.
[http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/fieldcourses04/PapersMarineEcologyArticles/EcologyofMangroves.html]
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Daily Dose

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We are getting rain every day and sunshine every day. Yesterday on my town ride, the sun was shinning in Nightcliff while pouring down rain at Lee Point. Along the ride I encountered Galahs Cacatua roseicapilla eating off the ground. They are so concentrated in certain areas that they are becoming a traffic hazard.
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The Swamp bloodwood Eucalyptus ptychocarpa are in bloom and the pink flowers are highly visible.
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The Beauty Leaf Calophyllum inophyllum is also just starting to bloom. The Beauty leaf has a fantastic scent and seems to be protected by the usual every watchful green ants.
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The Broad-leaved Paperbark Melaleuca viridiflora are also flowering. I find it amazing that the same species of paperbark flower at the same time throughout the region, yet each of the different species of paperbark flower at different times to each other.
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Feather Star Graveyard

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I went for a walk on the beach and there were literally thousands of dead Feather Stars also known as Crinoids. There is a lot of sand suspended in the water and the westerlies have been blowing steadily at around 20 knots for a week non stop. There has been a lot of rain around 215 mm for the last half of December. Still It looks like a mass suicide.
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