How to carry out a search.
With this search system the data base of all birds of the world can be consulted. No
differentiation between upper and lower case letters is made and the search can be carried out
with a minimum of three letters, though the chances of a successful result to the search increase
when more letters are used. The results of the search are listed on a page with all of the
matches that have been found and a blank list appears in the event that no matches have been
made. The search consists of three options, which are explained below.
- by family name
To carry out a search of amongst all the bird families, enter at least the first three letters of
the scientific or common English name of family you wish to look up. For example: to search
for Anatidae (Ducks, Geese and Swans), 'anati', 'duck', 'gee' or 'swan' could be used as key
letters.
- by species common name
To carry out a search of bird species by English common name using a minimum of three letters of
any part of the name. For example, to look up, Lesser Kestrel, either 'kestr', 'les' or 'trel'
could be used.
- by species scientific name
To look up a species by the scientific name or any of the parts of the scientific name (genus or
specific epithet), at least the first three letters of each of the names, separated by a space,
must be entered. This search method is the most precise and, thus, the fastest.
Examples of correct entries:
- Genus and species: For Ciconia ciconia it suffices to use 'cic cic'.
- Genus: Passer -> 'pas'
- Species: 'domesticus'-> 'dom'.
Examples of incorrect entries:
- Genus and species: For Ciconia ciconia, incorrect examples include 'ciccic' - as the space between the genus and species has been omitted; 'coni cic' - as the first three letters of the genus and species names must be entered.
- Genus: Passer - it would be incorrect to use 'pa' because a minimum of three letters is
required and 'sser' because the first letters of the word must be used.