Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches?: And Other Bird Questions You Know You Want to Ask

by Mike O'Connor

Book Overview

In 1983, Mike O'Connor opened the Bird Watcher's General Store on Cape Cod, which might well have been the first store devoted solely to birding in the United States. Since that time he has answered thousands of questions about birds, both at his store and while walking down the aisles of the supermarket. The questions have ranged from inquiries about individual species ("Are flamingos really real?") to what and when to feed birds ("Should I bring...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080708574X
• ISBN13: 9780807085745
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Enjoyable and informative

This is an easy read... yet very enjoyable with great ideas for backyard birders! I actually laughed out loud at some of the quips. It is a book that you can read a few sections when you get a chance, then come back to it over a period of time. I have ordered several for gifts for friends and family who love birdwatching so they can share in the reading experience! Definitely recommended!

birders have a sense of humor too

I laughed out loud several time through the read. Thanks, Mike O'Conner you're right on point. We Birders are a real crazy lot...

Great for any level birder, fun and full of good advice

Mr. O'Connor runs a bird store on Cape Cod and writes a column about birds and birders for the local paper there, The Cape Codder. He answers the questions that people who shop in birder stores ask people who run the stores. Often the people who ask the questions are new to birding. Sometimes they are eighty years old and sometimes they are five years old. We've never heard a bad question from such people. How do I get birds to come to my backyard? What do I feed them? What kind of birds like peanuts? What is this "thistle" or "nyjer" you sell? If I leave my hummingbird feeders up too long will that keep the hummingbirds from migrating? How do I keep squirrels off my bird feeders? What are the best binoculars? What was that little brown bird that I had at my feeder last weekend? Mr. O'Connor answers them. He answers with wit and verve. His answers are accurate, humane and wise. This is a great book for anyone you know who is beginning to know birds. It is even a good book for a birder of any level. Best of all, you'll laugh out loud and heaven knows, we could all use some of that these days.

Highly Entertaining

Perhaps the most entertaining book about birds ever written. This book is a collection of the author's newspaper columns entitled, "Ask the Bird Folks". These excepts discuss questions that the general public is concerned with, or that the author has repeatedly answered in his Bird-watchers Store on Cape Cod. Common questions such as, How do you squirrel proof your bird feeder, or If I keep the bird feeder full of food will the birds still migrate South for Winter, to more exotic ornithological questions. The author, Mike O'Connor, answers these questions along with some related facts usually couched in between some hilarious zingers thrown out at the questioner's expense. All in all the book is a good balance of factual material with humor and a down-to-earth commonsense style. Kudos to the author. A very good book for short segmented reading opportunities.

Funny and informative

This book was a "hoot" (excuse the pun). It had me chuckling out loud at the author's humorous answers to a variety of bird questions. While anyone would find this book entertaining, birders will especially enjoy it, for it is informative as well as funny.