Mike O'Connor

Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches? And Other Bird Questions You Know You Want to Ask, Mike O'Connor. Boston: Beacon Press, 2010. ebook, 163 pps.

Why Do Bluebirds Hate Me? More Answers to Common and Not-So-Common Questions about Birds and Birding, Mike O'Connor. Boston: Beacon Press, 2013.  e-book, 155 pps.

https://www.birdwatchersgeneralstore.com/index.htm


     Mike O'Connor owns The Bird Watcher's General Store in Orleans, Massachusetts. He was asked to do a column for a local paper. These two books are among the results of that column. The titles-- Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches? and Why Do Bluebirds Hate Me? act as clues to the whimsy and the humor enclosed within their pages. The illustrations are also not to be missed.

sapphoq reviews says: I was very pleased with the writing style in Mike O'Connor's books. They were an easy read, yet contained enough new information to keep me reading. If you don't know when or why you should clean out your bird feeders, you owe it to your feathered "friends" to get both of the books. If you don't know why you should not buy mixed seeds, ditto. Even if you do know those things, read the books anyway. Highly recommended for all who like birds and want to know more about them. 

A Supremely Bad Idea by Luke Dempsey

A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See It All, Luke Dempsey. New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2008. e-book, 239 pps.

     Luke Dempsey is a transplanted English man living in New York City at the time of the writing of A Supremely Bad Idea. He became hooked on birding and found a couple of pals to share his passion with. They birded in NYC of course and the road trips began.

sapphoq reviews says: I found Luke Dempsey's writing to be extremely entertaining. I related to the madness that is familiar to all serious birders. For birders with a sense of humor, highly recommended.

The Art of Bird Identification by Pete Dunne

The Art of Bird Identification: A Straightforward Approach to Putting a Name to the Bird, Pete Dunne. Mechanicsburg PA: Stackpole Books, 2012. e-book, 108 pps.

     I had a couple of friends who weren't druggies when I finally decided to change my lifestyle. They were birders. I knew that people watched birds but I never really thought about it. It was wintertime and we'd decided to hike up a small mountain one day.
I showed up in an old pair of canvas sneakers. "I always hike in these," I told the two astonished people as we were standing around in their kitchen. They insisted that I put plastic baggies over the sneakers and lent me a set of ski poles to aid in the walk up. 

     Yeah, there was some snow. The trail and the mountain itself was snow-covered. Maybe six or eight inches of the stuff, maybe a foot. We arrived at the top of the mountain. Something was drumming against a tree somewheres. "Pileated," one friend said and the other nodded. "Huh?" I asked. They explained their avocation. "We're birders." Then they had to explain that.

     I was fortunate that the first two birders I knew [and the ones who got me into birding] used sound identification as well as field marks. By time the three of us got to a bird sanctuary that summer, I could recognize some birds by their calls and songs. From these two I learned also about the importance of habitat and even trees in identifying the feathered avians among us.

     I had over a hundred birds on my life list when I decided to throw out the list and just concentrate on studying birds and their actual behaviors. I understand that some percentage of birders can keep a life list and also study the behavior of birds. I don't regret my decision because that was when I learned how to pull together the shapes, sounds, and behaviors of birds into families and individual identifications.

     Such is the stuff of Pete Dunne and his books. The Art of Bird Identification is not a field guide as such. It is rather a heap of information about how to take one's bird identification skills to a more advanced level. Examining birds-- which usually will not pose to our satisfaction in order to present us with precise field marks-- and then comparing their colors to a photograph in a bird book is not where birding is at. It never was.

     The first birders had a solution for those pesky birds who would not stand still. They shot them and killed them and had them stuffed. The next generation of birders now have fancy apps and gadgets on their too-smart phones and other fancy devices that they carry on birding trips with them. Oh, and a fancy camera too. But I don't belong to either generation. I think that is just fine.

     Someday, bird field guides will be obsolete relics, just as typewriters are now. The folks coming up after me may not recognize the greatness of a Pete Dunne or ever attend an Audubon Society meeting. That is their loss. I am happy to be the birder that I am. Pete Dunne inspires a bit of pride in those of us who observe birds.

sapphoq reviews says: Pete Dunne is outstanding in what he does. He knows birds. He knows the answers to questions like: What sounds does a particular species of bird makes when taking off, on flight, landing? Does it hop or walk or both? What trees does it use for nesting? What does the alarm call of a particular species of bird sound like? What is the shape of a bird in flight? What environment is the bird typically found in? The Art of Bird Identification points out correctly that true birding is a synthesis of senses and environmental clues. Highly recommended to all birders who are yearning to improve their observation skills in the field.

Good Birders Don't Wear White by Lisa White and Pete Dunne

Good Birders Don't Wear White: 50 Tips from North America's Top Birders, Lisa White and Pete Dunne. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007. e-book, 220 pps.


Good Birders Don't Wear White is a collection of tips for aspiring birders. Suggestions include when to wear white, when to question authority, focusing on the birds themselves rather than another check-mark on the life list, and others.

sapphoq reviews says: This is an easy-to-read book of fifty short essays by various birders. Beginner birders will be able to take away practical suggestions and the rest of us are sure to enjoy reminiscing with the essayists about their field experiences. Good Birders Don't Wear White is aimed at readers who enjoy birds. Highly recommended for this select audience.

Peterson Field Guide to Birds of New York by Roger Tory Peterson

Peterson Field Guide to Birds of New York (PagePerfect NOOK Book), Roger Tory Peterson.  New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.  e-book,  500+ pps.

Roger Tory Peterson is a name that ought to be familiar to any serious birder.  In my early birding days, the Audubon birding books with their glossy color photographs were easier for me to identify most birds with.  The Peterson birding books taught me to look for field marks but the pictures were not as attractive to me since they weren't photographs.

The folks at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt came out with a bunch of e-books for the Barnes and Noble NOOK e-readers last year which were state-specific:  New York, Ohio, California, and Arizona were among them.  I glanced at the one for New York State that a buddy of mine had.

What I found was disappointing.  There is no working index.  An unlinked index in an e-book winds up being a mere dull list.  Not useful at all.  As is, one has to scroll through pages and pages in order to locate a bird.  This would be tedious in any birding setting.  Even knowledge of how birds are grouped together in such a bird book does not relieve the doldrums.

sapphoq reviews says:  The Peterson state-specific e-books require a linked index and delineated chapters in order to live up to the hype of being an "easy-to-use mobile guide".  Take a pass on these until this critical issue is fixed.

Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill by Mark Bittner

Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill:  A Love Story...with Wings, Mark Bittner.  New York:  Harmony Books/ Crown Publishing Group, 2007.  e-book, 263 pps.


I am allergic to birds, or to their feathers or their dander or something.  I've been tested.  It is because of this allergy, or actually the clear symptoms of the allergy, that excused me from helping someone to clean the cage of her lovebirds in a house that I used to work at.  It is because of the allergy that I do not have birds in my home.  So instead, I feed the birds in my yard.  

I did not become a birder because of my allergy to the birds.  I became a birder because I was learning how to live without getting blasted.  Two of my co-workers were birders and they pointed out various birds at their feeder.  They took me along to a bird sanctuary and I was hooked.  The old guy upstairs had a dog.  That dog was my dog's best friend.  Because of him and his dog and my dog, I became an unwilling hiker, day-packer and eventual back-packer, a cross-country skier and a birder.  My unwillingness turned into a passion that remains to this day, several decades later.  My life list had over one hundred species on it when I abandoned it for the pleasure of studying the birds that I spotted.

In the intervening years, I became a traveler and a rambler.  I traveled across country and like the song, I left a piece of my heart in San Francisco in return for retrieving a piece of my scattered soul.  I rambled through many woods, seeking out the quiet places with my various dogs and continue to find much pleasure in nature's healing solitude to this day.  I and the current happy dog can be found walking in various wooded places at least twice a week.  I have learned to identify some birds by their song, flight pattern, and behavior.  The dog has learned to recognize these words: stay back, wait, quiet, squirrel, moo-cow, horsie, frog, pretty, spirit [for dead things], leave it [for dead things and potentially dangerous living things] and birdie.  The words make her a better companion on my rambles.  She is a dog that can be called off a deer, a woods dog in her own right.

Against this backdrop came the book Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.  Mark Bittner was a guy who was down on his luck.  It was a kinder San Francisco that allowed him and other homeless folk to camp out on the rooftop of a building with the knowledge of the tenants and the manager after he was evicted from a friend's VW because someone complained.  Bittner lucked out.  He found free rent in exchange for care-taking duties.  Along with the free rent [and some informal jobs], Bittner found a troop of feral parrots [or conures].  They inserted themselves into his life.  In return for some seeds and feedings up to four times a day, Bittner was given a chance to change his world.

sapphoq reviews says:  If you like parrots or birding or San Francisco, you are sure to love Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.  This is not a feel-good tale.  Rather, the book is a gritty story with a happy ending.  One thing for sure, it is more than just my bird allergy now that has decided me not to ever "own" a conure in a cage.  Mark Bittner took the time to educate me about the abject cruelity inherent in the wild bird trade which is responsible for the two feral flocks of conures which live in San Francisco.  Highly recommended.

 

Backyard Bird Secrets for Every Season by Sally Roth

Backyard Bird Secrets for Every Season, Sally Roth.
New York: Rodale Press, 2009. large paperback, 337 pps. inc. sources and index.

We've had a bit of a cold snap and I found my self wanting to read books that remind me that spring will return. Backyard Bird Secrets for Every Season fits the bill. Sally Roth is an avid birder from Indiana. She knows her stuff and has been widely published. The book itself uses medium thickness glossy pages which pleased my fingers and colored photographs which were a feast for my eyes. Charts and writing style are both clear and precise. I am as pleased with this book as I have been with other things that Roth has written.

The book is divided into sections according to the four seasons with winter being the last. I turned first to Part 4 subtitled Winter: Getting down to Basics. In Part 4, Roth addresses the need for proteinous foods, water, and shelter. The colorful pictures compliment her information rather well. A picture of a hollowed out tree caught my eye. I was pleased to see Part 4 mention the roosting together of birds in nesting boxes and small cavities that we observe here. If I get up early enough in the morning that was preceded by a cold night, I can be rewarded by the sight of a bunch of little birds pouring out of a roosting box, having all shared the box and body heat for the night. Roth suggests putting up birdhouses early, cleaning the feeders once a month in the winter time (with steps included), and providing water via a heated water source or at least special plastic with a dark interior that will delay freezing. I am now actively looking for either a solar water unit or a water heater for my birdbath. Roth also mentions the reliance that buffleheads have on woodpeckers in finding shelter. Buffleheads are considered incidental here along the Mohawk, although I did have the pleasure of watching a female bufflehead one fall down by the locks. Upon spying me and my dog, she dove underwater and came up again 50 feet later. Charts included in Part 4 illustrate which plants and trees attract which birds in the winter landscape.

Sally Roth has once again succeeded in presenting information about birds in an easy-to-read style bound to appeal to people who find pleasure in feeding birds. Although this book is not a scholarly tome, it is worth the look-see for anyone wishing to hone their knowledge about backyard birds.

sapphoq reviews says: break out those suet cakes! A definite plus for the casual birding library.