By Jean Wheeler

Saturday, August 7 

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 sturdy shoes, long pants and sleeves, and park at the north end of 15th Street in Los Osos, avoiding driveways and mailboxes.

Third Saturday Walk—August 21, 9:30 a.m.

Insect Walk:  Summertime brings out the creepie crawlies that we often overlook. Local naturalist Al Normandin will search every nook and cranny along the boardwalk for the Good, Bad, and Ugly of these creatures, as well as the pretty summer butterflies. The importance and ecology of our local insects will be discussed during the walk. Bring a hand lens if you have one, or close-focusing binoculars. 

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 sand path.  Wear comfortable shoes, long sleeves and pants to avoid poison oak and mosquitoes.  Please park carefully, avoiding driveways and mailboxes.

Besides docent-led events, visit the Elfin Forest any day:  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 (please avoid blocking driveways or mailboxes) and take a sand path to the boardwalk or the wheel-chair accessible boardwalk entrance at 16th Street.

Coming Up in the Elfin Forest

What a bountiful display of coastal dudleya we have decorating the Elfin Forest this summer!  Their succulent grey leaves are mostly hidden under the shelter of surrounding shrubs and herbs, but their tall pink stalks are showing slightly curved sprays of small bright yellow flowers nearly everywhere I look as I write in mid-July.  They are going so strong on the heavy rains they absorbed last winter and spring that I’m sure the display will continue to be impressive well into August.

Other yellow flowers in August include deerweed, mock heather, peak rush rose; and the continuing display of California poppies.  Expect lots of white flowers near the boardwalk too, blooming on shrubs such as California sagebrush, dune buckwheat, coyote brush, chamise, and (closer to the ground) on California croton.  Yellow-faced bumblebees are busily gathering nectar and pollen, repaying their hosts by their pollination services.

Reptiles are especially active in the warmth of summer. Western fence lizards pause to do their pushups along the boardwalk, and you may be lucky enough to see one of our snakes, none of which is poisonous.  Coyotes are occasionally seen slipping like ghost dogs through the brush.  On morning walks, look for tracks of our nocturnal visitors in the sand; raccoon tracks are especially common.

This is a good time of the year to observe closely our year-round resident birds, undistracted by all those winter visitors and spring and fall transients.  Quail scratch and scurry through the underbrush with males occasionally laboring to the top of a shrub to boast their dominance. The blue flash and noisy screams of California Scrub Jays are everywhere. Plentiful and easy to see are White-crowned and other Sparrows, finches, Bushtits, Bewick's Wrens, and Anna's Hummingbirds. Common but harder to see are California and Spotted Towhees, California Thrashers, and Wrentits.

So come out to the Elfin Forest on a summer’s misty morning or sunny afternoon.  Marvel at the abundant and active life displayed by our plants and animals. They are so marvelously adapted to take advantage of our winter rains and still provide a wondrous tapestry of life even in summer’s stressful drought season.

Spotted Towhee image on banner by Jean Wheeler.