Join us for a 90-minute walk around Winthrop Beach in Winthrop at low tide. This beach is often an excellent place to find shorebirds as well as nesting terns—a great spot for Piping Plover, American Oystercatcher, and more.

We’ll be birding primarily around the Five Sisters area of the beach. The Five Sisters are five stone breakwaters built in the 1920s to protect the Winthrop Beach shoreline from erosion and storm damage. 

These barriers have pros and cons. On the plus side, the calmer, protected waters serve as nursery and feeding areas for small fish, crabs, and other marine life, supporting a kind of marine invertebrate and fish feast for migrating birds. 

On the other hand, by altering natural wave action, sediment flow, and patterns of beach erosion, the breakwaters have an impact on the distribution of sandy and muddy substrates, which reduces habitats for species that prefer open sandy bottoms.

Still, the shorebirds seem to love it!

New birders and the merely bird curious are welcome on this walk. It’s a good walk, and we’ll be taking it at a leisurely pace. We will have binoculars to lend—email your request in advance.

See you out there!