Elfin Forest Activities

By Jean Wheeler

June 1

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. Ron rewards his warriors with his delicious homemade cookies as the mornings labors conclude!

June 15, 9:30 a.m. – Digital Photo and Birding Walk

Jerry Kirkhart and Mike Baird will cover the use of all types of digital cameras and iPhones for landscape, macro, and telephoto photography.  They will give tips on solving the problems of light contrast in an oak grove, getting a good close-up of the forest's native flowers and catching birds and butterflies in flight.  Bring your tripod, macro lens, and cell phone, if you have them.  Preferred are digital single lens reflex (DSLR) cameras. If your point-and-shoot camera has a macro setting, please review that function before coming, as they are all different. Also, bring binoculars to identify birds in the Elfin Forest.  Bring water and wear layers in case it is windy.

View From Upper Boardwalk

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.

June continues to put on a fine show of flowering shrubs and herbs even in this dry year. Among the most noticeable colors in June are the yellow of deerweed and California poppies. Coastal dudleya flowers are also yellow, topping tall reddish stems above gray-green basal succulent rosettes. The orange of sticky monkey flowers are also still much in evidence.  Silver dune lupine usually continues to show tall blue flower spikes into July. In the understory are the lovely blue flowers of wooly star, especially along the 15th street sand trail.

Black sage still has white to lavender blossoms showing in June. At the inland end of the boardwalk, white flowers spikes of chamise are opening. California hedge nettle has spikes with pink flowers. Cobwebby thistle also has pink flowers, and is a native, unlike the alien and invasive purple Italian thistle.  White flowers in the understory include pearly everlasting, croton, and horkelia.

This is a busy time of the year for many birds of the oak woodlands, maritime chaparral, and coastal dune scrub in the Elfin Forest. They are likely to be feeding young in these summer months.  Listen for a loud buzz to locate the Spotted Towhee calling from the top of a shrub. He's very distinctive with his black head, rust-colored flanks and rump, and white-spotted wings.  His drabber cousin, the grey-brown California Towhee, may be seen darting between shrubs or on the ground between them.

Other birds to be observed over or among the shrubs or oak trees include flycatchers such as the Black Phoebe and the Western Kingbird, wrens including Bewick's Wren and the noisy but elusive Wrentit, as well as Chipping, Lark, Savannah, Song, and White-crowned Sparrows. Less commonly seen but worth looking for are Black-headed Grosbeaks and Orange-crowned, Yellow, and Wilson's Warblers. Western Scrub-Jays, Brewer's Blackbird and  the Brown-headed Cowbird are year-round residents. House and Purple Finches and Lesser and American Goldfinches may often be seen in the forest south of the boardwalk near the residential area. Mixed flocks of small birds including Bushtits, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and Chestnut-backed Chickadees may swarm over nearby shrubs  gleaning insects from twigs and leaves as you walk the boardwalk.

On the estuary, many individual ducks and shorebirds remain all year or even arrive to nest here after vacationing for the winter farther south. Among waders, willets and killdeer continue to be 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.

As you enjoy the colorful flowers and active bird life on a summer stroll along the boardwalk, look also for "animals that aren't birds." For example, observe lizards doing their pushups, or watch for bees, butterflies, damselflies, and many other insects.

Photo of Jean by Ron Ascher
Unless Otherwise Attributed, All Other Photos, Including the Spotted Towhee Banner Image, are Taken by Jean.