Elfin Forest - by Jean Wheeler

 

2013 and 2012 Columns

 

December, 2013       Elfin Forest Activities

 

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.

 

November, 2013       Elfin Forest Activities

 

Join Cuesta College biologist Robb Tibstra as he tours the Elfin Forest in search of the Coast Horned Lizard and maybe the Southern Alligator Lizard.  We'll be sure to find some Western Fence Lizards sunning themselves on the boardwalk rails.  Since most of the Forest's reptiles and amphibians are hard to find, Robb will bring reptile skins and perhaps a live critter or two so walk participants can see what some of those small and retiring Forest inhabitants look like.  Learn how these elfin creatures behave, survive, and protect themselves from predators.

 

October, 2013           Elfin Forest Activities

 

October is the biggest month for arrival of birds in their fall migration — either to remain on our central coast for the winter or to pass through on their way further south to escape winter altogether in tropical climates. Bush Lupine Point and Siena's View along the boardwalk are excellent vantage points to observe year-round waterbirds as well as migrating arrivals.

 

September, 2013       Elfin Forest Activities

 

Would you enjoy strolling around the Elfin Forest Boardwalk and hearing the words of famous natural history writers? Then this walk is meant for you. Cal Trans historian Robert Pavlik will share selections from the works of such authors as Robinson Jeffers, Wallace Stegner, Rachel Carson, Gary Snyder, and others from this and past centuries.

 

August, 2013             Elfin Forest Activities

 

Take a journey through time with Jeff Grover, Cuesta College Geology instructor.  Jeff will focus on the geologic history of the Morro Bay area from the formation of the ancient Morros, or Seven Sisters, to the recent development of the dunes that form the Elfin Forest.  He may even give us a glimpse of what the Elfin Forest and Morro Bay will be like in the geologic future.  Of course, he will describe our local earthquake faults and talk a little about earthquakes in general. Jeff brings rock samples and draws diagrams of local geologic action.  Join us for a lively and informative walk and talk.

 

July, 2013                 Elfin Forest Activities

 

In this uncommonly dry year, the shrubs in the Elfin Forest are showing signs of the drought stress. Yet flowers still decorate many of them. Black sage, one of the most abundant shrubs, is in bloom with pompoms of pale lavender to white blossoms. Chamise is also in bloom with spikes of white flowers. Contrasting with these are bright yellow and orange of poppies, deerweed, sticky monkey-flowers, coastal dudleya, and golden yarrow (a different species than the infamous allergy producer). June's blue flowers of silver dune lupine and wooly star should continue into July, although much less abundantly than in wetter years. Pink flowers are spikes of California hedge nettle and cobwebby thistle. Indian pinks (flower edges serrated as if by pinking shears) are red flowers in the chaparral.

 

June, 2013                 Elfin Forest Activities

 

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.

 

May, 2013                 Elfin Forest Activities

 

Our Elfin Forest is never dull, but May is an especially colorful month with lots of flowers in bloom attracting many butterflies and birds.  Flowers to look for against the green backdrop include white California sagebrush, chamise, and popcorn flowers and the bright yellows and oranges of California poppies, dudleya, deerweed, fiddleneck, golden yarrow, and sticky monkey-flowers.  Slightly less common but worth looking for are small pink California roses and larger pink native cobwebby thistles.  On the ground under the oaks are Indian pinks—bright red flowers with edges seemingly cut by pinking shears. Blue flowers blooming this month include blue dicks (wild hyacinth) and the lovely spikes of blue flowers on silver dune lupines around Bush Lupine Point.

 

April, 2013                Elfin Forest Activities

 

In honor of California Native Plant Week, butterfly enthusiast Pat Brown will lead a walk from the point of view of a hungry butterfly.  As you tour the Elfin Forest with her, Pat will introduce you to several native plants and talk about the butterflies that sip their nectar and the caterpillars that eat their leaves. Pat has taken many photos of butterflies in all stages of development from eggs to mature butterflies, and will share them along with fascinating butterfly facts.

 

March, 2013             Elfin Forest Activities

 

It's March, so March! -- around the Boardwalk to enjoy lingering floral beauties of our mild-winter climate as the flowers of early spring open to join them. Lilac to white clusters of flowers continue to surround the boardwalk on the buckbrush ceanothus (aka California lilac) shrubs. The scenic photo shows them from the Boardwalk, framing the distant Morros. White and pink bell flowers of Morro manzanita shrubs are ripening into the miniature red apples that give this shrub its Spanish name. Prickly-thorned bushes of red fuchsia-flowered gooseberries are at the peak of their bloom, providing a feast for Anna's hummingbirds. Yellow to orange flowers that can be seen include seaside fiddleneck, golden yarrow, seaside golden yarrow, and California poppies. All of these winter blooms and fruits should continue at least into April.

 

February, 2013         Elfin Forest Activities

 

For our annual Fungus Foray in the Elfin Forest, intrepid leader and fungophile Dennis Sheridan will take us on an exploration of the Elfin Forest floor for wood bluetts, black elfin saddles, earthstars, golden caps, boletes, poisonous amanitas and many other fascinating fungi. Bring a magnifying lens and, if you have a mystery mushroom in your yard, bring a sample for Dennis to identify. This is not a mushroom collecting walk, as all plants in the Elfin Forest are protected by law. Only a very heavy rain will cancel the walk.

 

January, 2013          Elfin Forest Activities

 

George Trevelyan, owner of Grassy Bar Oyster Co., raises Pacific oysters in the intertidal zone of the Morro Bay estuary's southerly reaches. He calls it a lunar powered farm because it is the tidal rhythm that feeds the oyster reefs with fresh seawater.  We'll walk along the Elfin Forest boardwalk and stop occasionally to hear about the science and challenges of oyster farming. We'll also learn why preserving the Elfin Forest and controlling erosion makes a better environment for oyster farming. Don't miss this different and interesting view of forest and estuary.

 

December, 2012       Elfin Forest Activities

 

Mild winter temperatures combine with the onset of winter rains to accelerate the pace of life in the Elfin Forest.  Many of the earliest flowers of each new winter season open in December, fueled by a few early rains in October and November.

 

November, 2012       Elfin Forest Activities

 

Rejoice, bird lovers — the fall migration season is upon us again! By the end of this month the estuary from Bush Lupine Point will seem nearly covered with shore and water birds. Dabbling ducks to look for include Mallards, Northern Pintails, Gadwalls, American Wigeons, Northern Shovelers, Teal (Blue-winged, Cinnamon, and Green-winged), and Scaup (Lesser and Greater). Diving ducks to enjoy include Ring-necked, Canvasback, Surf Scoter, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, and Ruddy Ducks. Horned, Eared, Pied-billed, Western, and Clark's Grebes will remain until March or April.  About three thousand or so Brant Geese usually arrive around the end of this month, some en route farther south and many to spend the winter feeding on the eel grass in the bay.  Shorebirds like Sandpipers, Dowitchers, and the American Avocet also reach peak populations in winter, with birds arriving from shorelines farther north that won't support them in winter.

 

October, 2012          Elfin Forest Activities

 

Jim Royer will lead us on a bird inventory walk in preparation for Sunday's Big Sit!  This international event, hosted by Birdwatcher's Digest, pits participating groups of birders against one another to identify the most species of birds in one day. Our Big Sit! takes place at Bush Lupine Point. Join Jim on Saturday in finding and identifying 60 or more species of birds throughout the Elfin Forest and in the Morro Bay estuary. Regardless of your birding experience, you'll come away knowing more about birds, their calls, habits, and habitats.

 

September, 2012      Elfin Forest Activities

 

Although September is at or near the end of the summer dry season, expect to see lots of white flowers near the boardwalk. They're blooming abundantly on shrubs well adapted to our dry summers, such as coyote brush, chamise, and dune buckwheat.  The flowers on the buckwheat age to pink, then rust or brown during this month.  Mock heather is in the second of its two peak blooming months with bright yellow flowers. Other blooms to look for are pink everlastings and California asters with their yellow centers and white to pink/lavender rays.

 

August, 2012            Elfin Forest Activities

 

Dr. Francis Villablanca, Curator of Birds and Mammals at Cal Poly, will lead a walk in the Elfin Forest focusing on small mammals that inhabit the Forest, including the Dusky-footed Woodrat.  There are about twenty species of small mammals known to live in the Forest, but few are seen because most hunt and feed at night.  Dr. Villablanca will point out evidence that they are there, and share stories and information about the part they play in research being done at Cal Poly, and how they survive in a small wilderness like the Elfin Forest.

 

July, 2012                Elfin Forest Activities

 

Do you enjoy being read to? Would you enjoy strolling around the Elfin Forest boardwalk and hearing the words of famous natural history writers?  Then this walk is meant for you.  Cal Trans historian Robert Pavlik will share selections from the works of such authors as Robinson Jeffers, Wallace Stegner, Rachel Carson, Gary Snyder and others from this and past centuries.  As you follow Bob along the boardwalk, stopping here and there for a reading, he will provide you with a delightful menu of descriptions and impressions that can be enjoyed in the Elfin Forest environment.

 

June, 2012                Elfin Forest Activities

 

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.

 

May, 2012                 Elfin Forest Activities

 

May is one of the most abundantly colorful months in the Elfin Forest year.  Wildflowers are blooming everywhere while butterflies and birds are flitting among them.

 

April, 2012                 Elfin Forest Activities

 

The Elfin Forest is colorful all year, but I think this month and the next are perhaps the most abundantly colorful in the year.  Wildflowers are blooming in all colors, and butterflies are at their most active.  Birds are building nests or feeding hungry hatchlings.

 

March 2012                 Elfin Forest Activities

 

Join Evan Albright, an animal track expert, in learning who is "tracking up" the Elfin Forest. Evan will demonstrate how to tell the front feet from the back feet of a raccoon, and what the difference is between coyote and dog tracks. Visitors will learn to look for other signs that a wild resident of the Elfin Forest has passed that way, such as hairs on a fence or "scoot" marks where the animal squeezed through a fence hole. This walk will open up a complex world of the Elfin Forest's inhabitants, one that we would never suspect while walking along the boardwalk.

 

February, 2012             Elfin Forest Activities

 

Looking out from Bush Lupine Point or Siena's View, Morro Bay National Estuary is covered with ducks, geese, and other birds, as it normally is in February.  They are flying over the water, swimming or sleeping on the water, or diving down under the water after food.  Virtually all of our winter visitors are still here, but some will begin leaving before the end of February. March will see a much larger exodus.

 

January, 2012             Elfin Forest Activities

 

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.

 

 

 

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