Elfin Forest -
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-
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-
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-
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-
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! -
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-
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-
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-