Elfin Forest Activities

By Jean Wheeler

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

January 7: Weed Warriors

The volunteer work party will meet from 9 am to about noon.  Anyone is welcome to join in and work on projects to restore vegetation and reduce erosion. Wear comfortable shoes, long pants, and sleeves, and park at the north end of 15th Street in Los Osos.

January 21, 9:30 a.m. Third Saturday Walk

Black Brant Geese — Naturalist John Roser has been monitoring Morro Bay's Black Brant population for 15 winters.  During his walk, he will share the knowledge he has gained about this migratory goose.  Morro Bay is one of the few remaining coastal estuaries where the Brant can find their primary food, eelgrass.  John will talk about their impressive migration, their biology, and what has been learned from banding the Brant.  This is a rare chance to learn first-hand about these remarkable sea-going geese. 

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 Santa Ysabel in Los Osos and take a sand path to the boardwalk or the wheel-chair accessible boardwalk entrance at 16th Street.

Coming Up in the Elfin Forest

The 16th Annual Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival will be held from January 13 - 16 this year.  It is held on the Martin Luther King holiday weekend every year because our Central  Coast area hosts large populations of wintering birds at this time each year. 

The Elfin Forest is at the heart of all this winter birding extravaganza. 

From the overlooks at Bush Lupine Point and Siena's View,  the estuary seems virtually covered with ducks, geese, and other water birds in many species.  Brant and Canada  Geese feed on eel grass in the bay.  Diving ducks include Greater and Lesser Scaup and a great many Buffleheads and Ruddy Ducks. 

Dabbling ducks are often easy to identify from the boardwalk overlooks as they feed in the shallow water just below.  These include Northern Pintails, American Wigeons, Northern Shovelers, and three species of Teal (Blue-winged, Cinnamon, and Green-winged).   Both Brown and White Pelicans are common in the air and on the water.  On the bay or the edges of marshes and mud flats bordering the Elfin Forest all five species of grebes may be present, as are Great and Snowy Egrets, American Avocets, Marbled Godwits, and many other shorebird species.

Besides water birds, all the raptors and most of the passerines normally seen in our area are also at or near peak populations. The shrubs around the boardwalk can be alive with flitting finches, sparrows, warblers, wrens, bushtits, and many other little brown and little grey birds. Of course, our year-round resident birds are here, with young from the past year joining the adults. Watch for hummingbirds busily gathering nectar as they pollinate the red tubes of fuchsia-flowering gooseberries. Among the not-so-little birds of the brush are phoebes, thrashers, towhees, Scrub Jays, quail, blackbirds, and doves.

With good rains in the last couple of years and so far this year, a glorious floral response is already underway.  Lavender and white ceanothus (aka buckbrush or California lilac) line much of the boardwalk.  They are punctuated by the bright red of fuchsia-flowered gooseberry shrubs.  Also red are the drooping globes of California peonies.  They are less than two inches in diameter on herbaceous plants only a foot or so high lurking under the protection of taller shrubs and best seen near Bush Lupine Point on the sand trail leading from 11th Street to the boardwalk.  The Morro manzanitas along the lower boardwalk are just covered with pink and white floral bells.

Keep checking shrubs and herbs along the boardwalk, as many of our spring wildflowers are likely to burst into bloom early and copiously, triggering still more activity among the birds, butterflies, and other wildlife residents of our wonderful small wilderness area!

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Photo of Jean by Ron Ascher.
Unless otherwise attributed, all other photos, including the Spotted Towhee banner image, are taken by Jean.