Returning to the city in mid-afternoon, we thought we would have a
quick look in Riverside Park to see what last night's big cold front had
brought in. We entered the Park at the 120th street tennis courts.
North of the tennis courts, on short grass just west of the 125th street
exit ramp from the West Side Highway, a dense flock of about 200 Chipping
Sparrows swarmed about a heavily-leaved tree and on the ground around it,
getting up whenever a car or pedestrian passed.
On the flat lawn area about 150 yards south of the tennis courts,
another dense flock of about 250 Dark-eyed Juncos tried to feed in the
grass, constantly rising in a mass when disturbed by people and dogs.
Just south of them was another flock of about 100 Chipping Sparrows,
with a very few Field Sparrows among them, trying to feed on the lawn and
constantly getting up in a tight mass.
We have never before seen such dense masses of those two species in
Riverside Park
We looked further south but didn't see any further sparrow flocks in
that direction, but daylight was fading and we couldn't be sure.
Song Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows did not seem particularly
numerous in nearby brush tangles.
Bob Paxton and Sarah Plilmpton
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