June 2: 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.
June 16, 9:30 a.m. Sketch Walk: Join artist and naturalist Barbara Renshaw for a stroll along the Elfin Forest boardwalk. Take in views of the Morro Bay Estuary, oak groves, expanses of coastal sage scrub and chaparral, and the volcanic Morros beyond. You'll stop in the Rose Bowker Oak Grove to enjoy the ancient gnarled Coast Live Oaks. Barbara will tell you a bit about the native plants that you see along the way and will choose a few favorite places for sketching. No drawing experience is necessary. Bring a pad of drawing paper, colored pencils or pastels, and some drinking water. Bring a camera too. You'll be pleased to discover the artist hidden inside of you.
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. The Bulletin Board along the boardwalk between 15th and 16th Streets has photos (changing every month) of plants and animals you might see.
Coming Up in the Elfin Forest
Mourning Dove
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This is the best time of the year for blue flowers along our coast. A particular favorite of many flower watchers in the Elfin Forest is called wooly star. Look for its low clumps topped with many lovely blue blossoms along the 15th Street sand trail near the boardwalk. Bush Lupine Point was named for the lush blue flower spikes surrounding it at this time of year. Moro Blue butterflies flit around the lupines, seeking to lay eggs on these plants which host their caterpillars.
Indian Pinks
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Many yellow and orange flowers can be seen across the Elfin Forest in June, including deerweed, California poppies, sticky-monkey flowers, and golden yarrow. Coastal dudleya produces low rosettes of succulent leaves often nearly hidden under the edges of larger shrubs. These give rise to foot-high reddish stems branching near the top with clusters of yellow-orange flowers. Hummingbirds are attracted to the trumpet-shaped openings of these flowers.
Pink blossoms are provided by spikes of California hedge nettle and cobwebby thistle. The confusingly-named Indian pinks have red flowers in the understory of the oaks. They get their name from the edges of their flowers appearing to have been cut by pinking shears.
Shrubs with white flowers blooming around much of the boardwalk this month are chamise and black sage, the latter often with lavender overtones. In the understory, white flowers decorate pearly everlasting, croton, and horkelia.
Gabb's Checkerspot Butterfly
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Acmon and Western Tailed-blue butterflies continue to be in flight this month. Other butterflies you might see include either Anise or Pale Swallowtails, both Gabb's and Variable Checkerspots, and Gray or Hedgerow Hairstreaks.
Anna's Hummingbird
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Although winter's huge flotillas of ducks, geese, and shorebirds are long gone, close inspection reveals there are still a lot of water birds around. For many species of ducks and shorebirds, some individuals remain all year or even arrive to nest here after vacationing for the winter farther south. Among wading birds, Willets and Killdeer remain very common. Also resident all year are Great Blue and Black-crowned Night Herons, along with many Snowy and Greater Egrets.
Most of our raptor species are here all year, and likely to be actively hunting with fledglings to feed. Many chaparral and oak woodland birds are also busy raising young — such as hummingbirds, flycatchers, wrens, warblers, sparrows, thrashers, finches, scrub jays, blackbirds, and quail.
Enjoy a colorful and exciting June outing along the sand trails and boardwalk of our small wilderness area!
Wooly Star
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