Beacon Press: Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches?
Login Cart

Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches?

And Other Bird Questions You Know You Want to Ask

Author: Mike O'Connor

A beginner’s guide filled with wisdom and humor, based on Mike O’Connor’s beloved “Ask the Bird Folks” columns

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.

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.
Bookmark and Share
“Mike O’Connor knows birds—I mean, REALLY knows them. He can deliver the straight scoop with a hilarious twist that makes it unforgettable. Reading this book is almost as much fun as bird watching, and that’s saying a lot!”
—Kenn Kaufman, author of the Kaufman Field Guide to the Birds of North America

Reviews

Review: WildBird - July 1, 2007
“This is quite possibly the funniest bird book ever written. O’Connor has broken the mold of straight-laced bird books.”
Review: Barnstable Patriot, Cape Cod - April 24, 2007
“O’Connor’s response had me literally laughing out loud . . . he makes bird-watching fun for everyone.”
Review: New Hampshire Union Leader - April 14, 2007
“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.”
Review: Audubon - March 1, 2007
“while O’Connor’s detailed responses are full of ornithological facts, it’s their humor and irreverence that make the book so entertaining.”
Review: Publishers Weekly - February 12, 2007
“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.”
Click here to read an article in Film Placement that features Mike O'Connor's involvement in the upcoming film "The Big Year"

Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches?

ISBN: 978-080708574-5
 Publication Date: 4/15/2007
 Pages: 224
 Size:5.5 x 8.5 Inches (US)
Price:  $15.95
Format: Paperback
Availability: In stock.
Categories: