Ask The Bird Folks
Mike O’Connor, the owner of Bird Watcher’s General Store, wrote the popular article, Ask the Bird Folks, for The Cape Codder newspaper every week for over 22 years. His goal, is to answer some of life’s most challenging questions. You know, bird questions.
Read through the most recent and past articles below, consisting of questions asked by readers and real people like you, and maybe you’ll learn enough about birds to write your own article.
Also popular were the bird illustrations by Catherine Clark that accompanied Ask the Bird Folks from the beginning. Her drawings can be found hanging on refrigerator doors throughout the country.
Keep your eyes on this page ─ if Mike writes more articles, they will show up here.
New Year’s Resolutions for 2022
My New Year’s resolution (Rerun alert): A few years ago I wrote a column about finding a particular new bird for the year, a Lapland Longspur. Longspurs are not very exciting sparrow-ish birds that visit Cape Cod in the off-season. Each winter only a handful of people...
Unusal Goose Comes to Visit
A Pink-footed Goose comes to town: Does anyone remember The Big Year, the 2011 movie about three maniac birders who race across North America trying to spot the highest number of different bird species in a single year? It became an instant classic…sort of. One of the...
How To Attract Owls And Rockefeller the Owl Story Retold
Repeat alert: Last year, after reading about the tiny owl in the NYC Christmas tree, June wanted to know how to attract owls to her yard. It’s the perfect bird story for this time of year, so let’s tell it again. Dear Bird Folks, I loved hearing about...
The Scoop On Bird Books & Field Guides
Dear Bird Folks, We have several books to help us with bird identification, but none of them tell us much about their natural history. Can you suggest a book that also includes more information about birds? – Cory, Truro, MA Two books, Cory, Instead of one, I can...
The Best Bird Feeder To Buy
Dear Bird Folks, Maybe you can’t say specifically, but I’m wondering which bird feeder you think is the best to buy. – Justin, Rutland, VT I can say, Justin, I can say whatever I want. We are only talking about bird feeders here, not national secrets or the...
Christmas Binoculars A Great Idea But Not Zoom
Dear Bird Folks, I borrowed a pair of my friend’s 8X42 binoculars and really liked them. I thought I’d get the same kind for myself, but my husband thinks buying a set of binoculars with a zoom feature is a better idea. What do you think I should do? – Lizzie,...
The American Golden-Plover
Dear Bird Folks, Please take a look at the bird in the center of the attached photo and tell me if you think it’s an American Golden-Plover. I’ve been looking for one of these birds all fall, but I’m having trouble distinguishing it from all the plovers on the beach....
The Brewster Peacock
Dear Bird Folks, Any idea of the story behind the peacock that has been hanging out with the turkeys in my neighborhood? – EG, Brewster, MA Not again, EG, I almost made it an entire week without being asked about the crazy peacock in Brewster. That bird has...
Mockingbirds
Dear Bird Folks, Recently, I heard what I thought were both a Tufted Titmouse and a Carolina Wren singing nearby. Then I discovered the sounds were coming from two different mockingbirds instead. Any explanation why they are singing this time of year? – Gail, East...
Mystery Chirping Sounds
Dear Bird Folks, Please listen to the attached audio clip. For the last few nights a bird has been chirping in our backyard, but since it’s dark outside we can never seem to find it. We even tried using the bird sound ID app, with no luck. Any clue what it is? – Liz,...
A Trip To The White Mountains
A trip to the White Mountains: I wanted to call this column “A birding trip to the White Mountains,” but it was actually more of an anniversary excursion, with a little bird watching mixed in…as you might have expected. We decided not to leave until after the Columbus...
A Dickdissel Surprise
A surprise Dickcissel: Last week, Casey was helping me unload a pallet of birdseed at work, when an odd bird caught my eye. I reached for the “emergency binoculars” we keep by the back door and zoomed in. “I think I see a Dickcissel,” I said, as I passed Casey the...