Elfin Forest Activities

By Jean Wheeler

When parking near the Elfin Forest while visiting, please avoid blocking driveways or mailboxes.

November 6 - Weed Warriors

The volunteer work party known as the "Weed Warriors" will meet from 9 am to about noon.  Anyone is welcome to join in and help pull obnoxious invading weeds and work on projects to reduce erosion. Wear comfortable shoes, long pants and sleeves, and park at the north end of 15th Street in Los Osos.

Small Wilderness Area Preservation (SWAP) will have a booth at the South Bay Community Center Craft Fair in Los Osos from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Come chat with our volunteers, view our informative displays, and perhaps purchase our gorgeous El Moro Elfin Forest 2011 Calendar, which features paintings and drawings by excellent local artists and makes a holiday gift for continued enjoyment all year.  Or perhaps pick up our $2 Pocket Guide to Plants and Animals of the Elfin Forest Natural Area.  It not only names species present but gives lots of information about them, such as flower colors and bloom season for plants, months birds and butterflies can be seen, and which habitats in the Elfin Forest host which species.

November 20: 9:30 a.m. - Literary Stroll

Would you enjoy strolling around the Elfin Forest boardwalk and hearing the words of famous natural history writers at the same time?  Then this walk is meant for you.  Cal Trans historian Robert Pavlik will share selections from the works of such authors as Robinson Jeffers, Wallace Stegner, Rachel Carson, Gary Snyder and others from this and past centuries.  As you follow Bob along the boardwalk, stopping here and there for a reading, he will provide you with a delightful menu of descriptions and impressions that can be enjoyed in the Elfin Forest environment.  He’ll also provide us with a handout of his readings for those who want to read further.  Park at the north end of 15th Street (16th Street for wheelchairs) off Santa Ysabel in Los Osos.  Walks begin on the boardwalk at the end of the 15th Street path.

Besides docent-led events, visit the Elfin Forest any day to experience the quiet natural beauty of this small wilderness area. Park at the north end of any street from 11th through 17th streets off Sta. Ysabel in Los Osos and take a sand path to the boardwalk or the wheel-chair accessible boardwalk entrance at 16th Street.

Look for These Highlights

The geese are coming, the geese are coming!  From Bush Lupine Point or Siena’s View, we can already see many waterfowl that have arrived to stay for the winter or pass on through to their winter resorts farther south, such as Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shovelers, Northern Pintails, and American Wigeons.  But this month should see the arrival of literally thousands of geese, both Canada Geese and Brant.  Tom Edell reported on Birding on the Net that nine Brant summered on Morro Bay this year, with the arrival of the main wintering Brant normally occurring in early November.  He noted the earliest previous arrival of the great flotilla from Alaska was October 27.

Brant, also known as Black Brant, are one of the smaller species of geese.  They have a black head, neck, and chest with a white ring around the neck, a grayish-white belly, and a dark back.  They nest on Arctic seacoasts of Alaska and Russia, and migrate south along the Pacific flyway.  Nearly the entire population gathers at Izembek Lagoon near the tip of the Alaskan Peninsula in late September and October to feed on eelgrass for about nine weeks.  Virtually all take off at once, usually at night during a low pressure weather system that produces favorable winds for their flight south along the Pacific Coast Flyway.  Various groups winter in different bays along the coast from British Columbia south to Mexico.  Although most pass briefly through Morro Bay, usually about three thousand remain here for the winter, feeding on the eel grass beds in the Bay.

Wildflowers are at a minimum at the end of our dry season, but the heavy fogs and misty rains of this October have already "greened up" the Elfin Forest shrubs and trees for our autumn enjoyment.  There are also some spots of color remaining from the summer, such as yellow California poppies, white to lavender wild asters, and small red spots of birdingonthe.net (the flower edges look like they’ve been cut by pinking shears).  The yellow flower heads of mock heather shrubs are the most obviously visible floral colors as November approaches.  Birds that have already arrived to provide late fall and winter color as they harvest seeds and fruits of the Elfin Forest include Golden-crowned Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Ruby-crowned Kinglets.

As the holiday season approaches, we can be thankful that dedicated nature lovers have acquired and continually work to protect such valuable and beautiful habitats as the Elfin Forest and Morro Bay National Estuary.

Spotted Towhee image on banner by Jean Wheeler.