Product Description

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 in my feeders for the summer?") to the down-and-dirty specifics of backyard birding ("Why are the birds dropping poop in my pool?"). Answering the questions has been easy; keeping a straight face has been hard. Finally, it occurred to O'Connor that if he answered these questions in print, he might be able to buy groceries in peace.

Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches? is the solution for the beginning birder who already has a book that explains the slight variation between Common Ground-Doves and Ruddy Ground-Doves but who is really much more interested in why birds sing at 4:30 A.M. instead of 7:00 A.M., or whether it's okay to feed bread to birds, or how birds rediscover your feeders so quickly when you've just filled them after a long vacation. Or, for that matter, whether flamingos are really real.

"Mike O'Connor knows birds—I mean, REALLY knows them. He has been answering questions about birds for years, and he can deliver the straight scoop with a hilarious twist that makes it unforgettable. Reading this book is almost as fun as bird watching, and that's saying a lot!"
—Kenn Kaufman, author of the Kaufman Field Guide to the Birds of North America

"O'Connor's book delightfully answers almost any question one could ask about birds. I am impelled to declare that the Chesworth pen and ink drawings add a sprinkling of 'salt' to O'Connor's bird tales. This is a fun book to read, whether nibbled at a bit at a time, or in one large clump."
—New Hampshire Union Leader

"This is quite possibly the funniest bird book ever written. O'Connor has broken the mold of straight-laced bird books." —WildBird

Mike O'Connor is the owner of the Bird Watcher's General Store on Cape Cod. His column, Ask the Bird Folks, appears in The Cape Codder, and his writing has been included in The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2004. He lives in Orleans, Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #241618 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-30
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 211 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Cape Codder columnist O'Connor ("Ask the Bird Folks") illuminates his intricate, arcane area of expertise through jovial insider explanations that will enlighten as well as entertain ornithiphiles, average backyard birdwatchers and even nonbirders. O'Connor's humorous birding columns are organized into sections on ways to attract specific species, food, unusual birds, habitats, equipment and more. Among many wry but practical answers to tongue-in-cheek and sincere questions, O'Connor explains why birdseed is healthier for birds than white bread (empty calories), but plain (not sugared) doughnuts are also better than bread. He debunks the "old wives' tale" of ostriches hiding their heads in the sand—on the open savanna they just drop their heads to the ground hoping to appear like a bush to a predator in the distance. As for the woodpecker, it has "evolved a rather tough head. Its larger brain case prevents concussions, and the muscle and bone structure at the base of the bill serves as a shock absorber. The avian equivalent in tone and expertise to NPR's Car Talk Magliozzi brothers, O'Connor should net a wider audience with this amusing collection. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
Publishers Weekly : "The avian equivalent in tone and expertise to NPR's Car Talk Magliozzi brothers, O'Connor should net a wider audience with this amusing collection."

Customer Reviews

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.

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.

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.