DATE – Sunday, August 3, 2025
TIME – 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM
WHERE – Winthrop Shores Reservation/Winthrop Beach
QUESTIONS? hello@bostonbirdingfestival.org
Please download the free New England Shrebird Guide in advance. Instructions at this link. [LINK]
This event is free. Spaces limited.
Please register in advance. Spaces are limited. You’ll receive an email with additional info, including the meeting location, the day before this event
We also request a signed release, which you can complete online, print, sign, and bring, or complete onsite. Thanks!
GPS ADDRESS
100 Winthrop Shore Drive,
Winthrop, MA
TAKE THE T!
Take the MBTA Blue Line subway outbound from downtown Boston to Orient Heights.
From Orient Heights, take either the MBTA Route 712 Bus to Shirley St. at Levy Bramsom Way or the MBTA Route 713 to Veterans Road at Washington Shore Ave.
Walk a short distance east to Winthrop Shore Drive
DIRECTIONS AND PARKING
There is free street parking along Winthrop Shore Drive. We recommend carpooling.
LINKS
Join us for a leisurely 90-minute walk around Winthrop Beach in Winthrop. This beach is often an excellent place to find shorebirds as well as nesting terns. Winthrop Beach is often a great spot for Piping Plover, American Oystercatcher, and much 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 reduce 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!
PHOTOS: Winthrop Shores Reservation, American Oystercatcher, Piping Plover. Purple Sandpiper, Getty Images, MFBadger
TRAILS
Expect mostly hard-packed sand and rocky/gravely areas. Closed-toe shoes are recommended as there is often broken glass. Not a huge amount of walking. Sunscreen encourages even late in the day.
FACILITIES
Restrooms located along the main beach area facing Winthrop Shore Drive, near central access points. We recommend bringing a water bottle.
A beach accessible wheelchair is available through Mass Wildlife. [LINK]