Elfin Forest Activities

By Jean Wheeler

Saturday, December 7 - 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 sturdy shoes, long pants and sleeves, and park at the north end of 15th Street in Los Osos, avoiding driveways and mailboxes.

Second Wednesday Walk--December 11, 10:00 a.m. – How to be a Near-sighted Birdwatcher

In this new series of 2nd Wednesday nature walks in the Elfin Forest, SWAP docent Vicky Johnsen will focus on birds. Learn a few tricks from an amateur birdwatcher while enjoying a morning walk in the Elfin Forest. Bring binoculars if you have them, but they are not necessary.

Third Saturday Walk-- December 21, 9:30 a.m. - Solstice Walk

Winter solstice is today, December 21.  Will the sun really stand still, as the word "solstice" means? Dr. Jean Wheeler has taught thousands of geography students about the relative wanderings of the sun, moon, and earth and what they mean to us in terms of our climates, tides, and the vegetation and animal life around us. She'll show us how large our seasonal differences in sun angle are. Also, she'll explain how locations of some Elfin Forest plant species reflect in part their need for or ability to tolerate abundant solar energy, yet other species survive only where protected from the heat of high summer sun angles.

Walks begin on the boardwalk at the end of the 15th Street sand path.  Park at the north end of 15th Street (16th Street for wheelchairs) off Santa Ysabel in Los Osos. Please park carefully, avoiding driveways and mailboxes. Wear comfortable shoes, long sleeves and pants to avoid poison oak and mosquitoes.

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, avoiding driveways and mailboxes.

Avocets Landing

Coming Up in the Elfin Forest

The holidays are here! Not only for us but for thousands of birds who have finished their frantically busy summer feeding demanding offspring. Then they made a long and dangerous migration to reach our area of mild weather and sufficient food for the winter.

Morro Bay National Estuary is one the richest locales for birding in the United States. The 18th Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival scheduled for January 17-20, 2014, as always will draw lots of visitors from all over the U.S. and from abroad. The Elfin Forest is part of the action. See the schedule of events and field trips (the latter sell out fast!) for this year's Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival at their website.

Bush Lupine Point and Siena's View are two of the best places in the region for viewing the thousands of water and shorebirds flying over and swimming or wading in the estuary.  Virtually all of the water birds and wading birds seen in Morro Bay each year are present and at peak populations in December and January.  Often the water of the estuary seems nearly covered by the thousands of water and wading birds.

American Shovelers

The forest itself is the winter home for many migratory birds favoring brushy open woodlands.

Shrubs around the boardwalk can be alive with flitting finches, sparrows, warblers, wrens, titmice, nuthatches, and many other little brown and little grey birds. Among the not-so-little birds of the brush are phoebes, thrashers, towhees, scrub jays, quail, blackbirds, and doves. 

We're very light on rain so far, but even a couple of more light rains should bring some of our larger shrubs into bloom. Buckbrush Ceanothus, among the many species of the California Lilac genus, is one of the dominant shrubs in our maritime chaparral. As I write in mid-November, a few of its white to lavender flowers are already just beginning to open. By the end of December their flowers should nearly surround the boardwalk.

Tucked in more protected areas of the lower (northern) boardwalk are Morro Manzanitas. These tall shrubs are found only along the coast between Montana de Oro and Morro Bay State Parks. The Elfin Forest is nearly in the center of their limited range and preserves a substantial percentage of the total population for this species. The tiny bell-shaped flowers are white with a pinkish blush.

Against the background of green shrubs, bright red flowers of the Fuchsia-flowered Gooseberry make a cheerful holiday statement and attract hummingbirds to their sweet nectar. Take a break from shopping and gift wrapping or relax after the happy holiday turmoil. Enjoy a walk through the burgeoning beauty of our marvelous little winter-blooming wonderland!