Mike O'Connor (author, born 1953)

Mike O'Connor (born 1953) is an American author and owner of the Bird Watcher's General Store in Orleans, Massachusetts.

O'Connor was born and grew up in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. He graduated from Westfield State College with a degree in education and psychology[1] and taught at Nauset Regional High School before working as a youth center director in Harwich.[2] The Bird Watcher's General Store was opened in 1983. O'Connor realized that birding supplies could only be bought in several different stores and decided to sell them all in one location.[3]

In 2000, O'Connor was approached by the local Orleans newspaper The Cape Codder to write a birding column ("Ask the Bird Folks"), despite having no formal training in ornithology or experience writing. His columns are written in question-and-answer format and often include humor.[1][3] When some of his columns were chosen to appear in The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2004, O'Connor suggested to its publisher, Houghton Mifflin, that he had enough columns to make a book. He was recommended their subsidiary, Beacon Press.[3] In 2007, his book Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches?: And Other Bird Questions You Know You Want to Ask, a humorous collection of his columns, was published.[4] His second book, Why Do Bluebirds Hate Me?: More Answers to Common and Not-So-Common Questions about Birds and Birding, was published in 2013.[5] His writing has also appeared in Good Birders Don't Wear White: 50 Tips From North America's Top Birders.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 Richmond, Mary (12 April 2007). "New author Mike O'Connor keeps bird watchers laughing". Cape Cod Times. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  2. ↑ Stevens, Lorelei (19 June 2016). "Take 10: The birdman of Orleans". Cape Cod Times. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 "The Bird Man of Orleans; Mike O’Connor". Cape Cod Wave. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  4. ↑ "Nonfiction Book Review: Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches? And Other ...". Publishers Weekly. 12 February 2007. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  5. ↑ "Nonfiction Book Review: Why Do Bluebirds Hate ...". Publishers Weekly. 29 April 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  6. ↑ O'Connor, Mike (2013). Why Do Bluebirds Hate Me?: More Answers to Common and Not-So-Common Questions about Birds and Birding. Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0-8070-1253-6.



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