Why Dont Woodpeckers Get
Headaches: And Other Answers to
Bird Questions You Know You Want
to Ask by Mike OConnor
Enjoyable And Informative
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.
Personal Review: Why Dont Woodpeckers Get Headaches: And
Other Answers to Bird Questions You Know You Want to Ask by
Mike OConnor
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.
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