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Text File | 1994-10-01 | 24KB | 597 lines

********************************************* | | | Reference Manual | | | | Shareware Version | | | | Ver 1.0 | | | | by | | | | | | Due North Software | | 344 Riviera Drive | | Thunder Bay, Ontario | | Canada P7B 6K2 | | | ********************************************* This manual and the North American Wild Birds program are (C) Copyright 1994 Due North Software All Rights Reserved INTRODUCTION ************* NORTH AMERICAN WILD BIRDS (NAWB) is an educational reference program designed to help bird enthusiasts quickly sort through the many species of birds that may occur in their area. This is accomplished by allowing users to perform searches based on the state or province they live in, thereby reducing the number of birds to look at. Where most reference books list birds in one specific order, NAWB allows the user to perform searches in many ways. Birds can be selected alphabetically, by type, by family or by season. Due to the large number of songbirds, these species can also be queried by field mark and size. After a bird has been selected other features become available. A brief description of field marks, preferred habitat and nesting, is given for most species. Abundance and status are given for each season. If further information is required the program will give a cross reference page number to a reference book of your choice. Users with a compatible SVGA video card can view colour images of birds. Users with a 100% compatible SOUND BLASTER sound card will also be able to hear a selection of songs and calls for some common species. Upon registration the user will receive over 500 colour images and 136 bird songs to enhance the program. The shareware version contains images and sounds for five birds. NAWB is not designed to identify every bird that you may see in the field. For each species, there may be variations in plumage based on sex, age and season. To be able to identify every bird can take years of observation and study. However this program provides a good start by narrowing down the choices to a manageable number of species; it allows one to make quick comparisons between species and to recognize the differences between the various families of birds. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS -------------------- - 386 or better IBM compatible computer. Registered version requires 17MB free hard disk space to fully display all images and sounds. - DOS 3.1 or greater. - 560K free conventional RAM. - VGA compatible video card; 512K SVGA card minimum required for colour images. - Optional 100% SOUND BLASTER compatible sound card for bird songs. - Mouse required. VIDEO CONFIGURATION ******************** Change to the directory where the files are located and type SETVIDEO to run the video detection program. This program will attempt to detect a compatible video card. The top half of the screen will give information on the video card in your computer. This should be verified with your video card manual. To view colour images your video card must have at least 512K video memory and support a screen resolution of 640 x 480 x 256 colours. The top window will tell you if your video card supports this mode. It will also tell you if a 100% SOUND BLASTER compatible sound card was detected. Under the window you will find three buttons: VIDEO MODE, SOUND TEST, and FORCE VIDEO. Video Mode The program will run in one of two modes: (1) 16 colour VGA. This is the default mode. Colour images are not available. (2) 256 colour Super VGA. With a compatible SVGA video card this mode will show colour images. The box at the bottom of the screen shows what mode the bird program is presently configured for. After choosing one of these two modes the selection is saved in a configuration file. Quit this program and run BIRDS.EXE. If the program runs correctly you do not need to run SETVIDEO again. If the program does not run in 16 colour VGA then the program is not compatible with your video card. If you have a compatible SVGA card and the program does not run correctly, see FORCE VIDEO below. Force Video In 256 colour SVGA mode, the program attempts to autodetect the video chip and memory. There may be times where the information detected does not match the actual hardware. This routine lets you select the video chip and memory manually. Here you can also select VESA if your video card comes with a VESA driver. If you select the VESA chip be sure to run the VESA driver before running BIRDS.EXE. Sound Test Press this button to check that the sound card will correctly play a bird song. NORTH AMERICAN WILD BIRDS ************************** Startup ------- Change to the directory that contain the files for the program and type BIRDS to start the program. After the introductory screens you will see two windows on the left half of the screen and one large window on the right. The top left window is the picture window, the bottom left window is the list window and the right hand window is the search screen. Along the top is the main menu. On startup the program always defaults to the songbird search window. Songbird Search Window ----------------------- In NAWB all birds that have the general shape of a songbird fall into this category. Therefore even though a crow does not really have a song it is represented here. Since this category comprises almost 45% of all species it is necessary to enter extra information to narrow the choices to a manageable number. The top of the screen has three buttons for selecting colour, size, and family. The left hand boxes represent different parts of the birds body. The appropriate colour is entered here. The right hand boxes are field marks. The entry here would be a YES or NO. The SEARCH button will make a search based on the data that is input into the boxes. The RESET button will clear all the entries. When SEARCH is clicked on with the mouse a list of birds that match the input will appear in the list window. The search will bring up all birds that match the input criteria for the selected region. Colour Entry ------------- The songbird database is set up such that the most prominent colour is entered in the DOMINANT UPPER and DOMINANT LOWER box. Upper parts include the head, back, rump, wings, and tail. Lower parts include the breast, belly, flanks, and undertail coverts. After entering the dominant colour for upper or lower a colour entry is made for other parts only if it is different from the dominant colour. The dominant colour would be one that represents greater than 75% of the upper or lower area. Examples: A crow would have Dominant Upper and Dominant Lower as black. You would not enter black for any other body part. The Eastern Bluebird would have blue as the Dominant Upper. You would not enter blue under the wings or head. The Dominant Under would be rusty. You would not enter rusty under the breast. You could enter white for the belly as this is a different colour from the Dominant Under. There may be times when there is no dominant colour as two colours occupy the same amount of area. Leave the Dominant Upper or Lower box blank and fill in the appropriate body part box. It is not necessary to fill in every box. In fact too much detail could lead to no matches. Only the most prominent marks and colours are entered in the database. Therefore if a bird has grey undertail coverts, it will not be entered in the database unless it is very conspicuous or is a critical field mark identifier. The best procedure is to enter the most positive colour or mark then make a search. Sometimes just one or two entries will narrow the list to one species. If the list is too long, enter your next best colour or mark. Repeat until you can get the list down to two or three entries. If your entry results in no match then it is possible the bird does not yet exist in the database, or the colours stored in the database do not match your entry. Immatures, some females, and seasonal plumages are not yet represented. The majority of the entries are of adult birds in breeding plumage. After clicking on the colour button the colour selected will be the one that is entered for the body part when clicking in the adjacent box. The colours are general and can represent the following: BLACK - black, slate, dusky BLUE - light blue, blue, dark blue BROWN - light brown, sandy, brown, dark brown BUFF - yellowish brown, tawny GREY - light grey, grey, dark grey GREEN - light green, green, dark green OLIVE - greenish-yellow, olive ORANGE - orange PURPLE - purple RED - pink, red, rose, dark red RUSTY - reddish-brown, rusty, chestnut WHITE - creamy, white, dull white, whitish-grey YELLOW - light yellow, yellow There may be times when you do not get a match even though you think you have the correct colour. Some colours are not noticeable under certain light conditions or a borderline colour is entered differently in the database. As an example the program may have buff for a colour while the user will enter yellow. On difficult colours it may be wise to perform two searches, one with each colour. Close colours are: - green and olive - buff and yellow - brown and rusty - white and grey A colour can be erased from any one box by clicking in the box with the right mouse button. Size Entry ----------- Clicking on this button will let you enter a relative size. Some birds fall right on the boundary between two sizes so if a size entry does not turn up a match then try the next closest size. Family Entry ------------- Clicking on this button will let you specify a family to limit your searches to. Body Part Boxes --------------- Click in the adjacent box to enter the selected colour. Click the box with the right mouse button to erase the entry. Note that a colour entry under HEAD represents a bird whose total head area is that colour. The head is broken down into crown, nape, cheeks, and throat and colour entries can be made there if the head is not a solid colour. The cheek patch common in warblers and sparrows would normally be entered here, though it may sometimes be entered under Mask in the field marks section. Also COVERTS represents the undertail coverts only. Field Mark Boxes ----------------- Click once in the adjacent box to select YES. The search will include all birds that have that field mark. Click a second time in the box to select NO. The search will include all birds that do not have that field mark. Click with the right mouse button to erase the entry. The colours of the field mark are not relevant. The following is a definition of each field mark. Head Stripes - Can be either bold wide stripes or a thin centre stripe. Eyebrow - A broad stripe over the eye. Eyestripe - A thin stripe that passes through the eye. Eye Ring - A ring around the eye in a contrasting colour. Eye Patch - A small patch of colour around the eye. Smaller than a mask. Mask - A broad patch of colour similar to a mask over the face. Wing Patch - A large spot of colour in the wing. Wing Bars - One or two thin bars on the wings. Crest - Feathers on the crown giving it a peaked appearance. Necklace - A ring of colour around the neck or a breast band. Chest Spot - A dark spot on the breast. Streaked Upper- Any streaks or barring on the upper back and rump. Streaked Lower- Any streaks, spots, or barring on the breast, belly or flanks. Tail Edging - Usually a white edge trim on the tail. Spectacles - A combination of an eyestripe and eye ring giving the appearance of spectacles. To become familiar with each field mark perform random searches with each one and check the picture to locate the mark. Certain field marks are very important when trying to identify a species. Notice whether a bird has solid colours or streaked. For Warblers pay close attention to head details. When looking at Flycatchers check for wing bars. Using the YES and NO entries wisely can quickly give you a match. Search Button -------------- Click on this button to perform a search. A search will be carried out based on the entries you have selected, the seasons selected and the region. The results will be shown in the List Window together with the number of matches. Reset Button ------------ Click on this button to clear all colour and field mark entries in the search screen. MENU DESCRIPTION ***************** FILE ---- About A window will appear showing the version number for the program and the address of the author. Credits Selecting this will bring up a window acknowledging the contributions of various individuals and institutions in the development of this program. Save Settings This will save the selected region, all the settings from the Search Options window, and the current reference book in the configuration file. Registration This window will give information on what features are available once a user pays the registration fee. See the file REGISTER.TXT for further details. Quit Selecting this will bring up a window asking for confirmation to exit the program. SEARCH MODE ------------ Alphabetical The alphabetical list is not affected by the region entry. Selecting an alphabetical range will bring up all birds that begin with those letters. The list is sorted by the last name, therefore Blue Jay will be found in the 'J' section not the 'B' section. This allows many birds from the same family to be grouped together. TYPE One of the first things a person interested in bird observation must do is to be able to classify a bird into a broad group. From there he/she would next identify the family, then finally the species. NAWB has divided all the birds into nine broad categories. We have already dealt with the songbird type as this is what the program starts out with. The categories are: Duck-like Birds Gull-Like Birds Long-Legged Waders Perching Water Birds Small Waders Ground Birds Birds of Prey Songbirds Others Under OTHERS you will find several distinctive families: Owls Woodpeckers Hummingbirds Pigeons, Doves Swallows Swifts Each category is then sub-divided into the families of birds that it represents. Clicking on these families will bring up the species for that family in the List Window. This search is dependent on the selected region. If there are no birds for a particular family in the selected region the list box will be empty. Beside each family button is a short description of the general characteristics of that family. Images/Sounds Selecting this will bring up a list of all birds that have a song or image in this program. The sounds can only be heard if you have a 100% compatible Sound Blaster sound card. To view the images you must have a Super VGA compatible video card and select this mode in the SETVIDEO program. This version contains images and sounds for five birds. Upon registration the user may obtain up to 500 more images and 136 bird songs and calls. REGION ------- In NAWB you can select what region you want the search to take place in. The database contains status and abundance data for all Canadian provinces and territories, and forty nine American states including the District of Columbia. You can also select North America, Canada or The lower forty eight states. Custom List Registered users also have the option of creating a custom list and using it as the selected region. Included with the registered program is the Custom List Editor, a utility that allows one to enter any checklist and save it to be used in NAWB. With this utility you could enter a list for a national park, county or city. If breeding and abundance data is available this can be entered also. Included with NAWB is a custom list for the District of Thunder Bay in Ontario, Canada. OPTIONS -------- Data On Clicking here after a bird has been selected will bring up a data window for the selected species. The information includes the family the bird belongs to and its average size from the tip of its beak to the end of its tail. Following this is a short description of its physical features, preferred habitat, and for Canadian breeders, nesting details. At the bottom is the bird's status and abundance for all seasons that it occurs in the selected region. Definitions Status Breeder - A bird with confirmed nesting and breeding. Permanent - A bird that is found during all seasons. Vagrant - A bird occurring outside its established range during migration. Transient - A bird occurring within its established range during migration. Abundance The abundance codes are a subjective appraisal that represents the number of individual birds of each species that can be encountered by a diligent, experienced birding party within the species established range and preferred major habitat type. The concept of habitat is important. A species may be classified as common for a particular habitat even though that habitat may only occupy a small portion of the total area of the state or province. The abundance codes should only be used to compare the relative abundance of species within the same habitat type. This is because the different habitat types occupy different proportions of any given state or province. Abundant - A few birds > 90% of days OR many birds >50% of days. Common - A few birds 50-90% of days OR many birds 10-50% of days. Uncommon - A few birds 10-50% of days OR many birds <10% of days. Rare - A few birds <10% of days. Extremely Rare - 10 or fewer records for that season. Data Off Clicking here will close an open data window. Centimetres/Inches The units of measurement for the size entry in the Data Window is selected here. Search Clicking here will bring up a window that lets you select what seasons you want the search to cover. In NAWB the data for winter is taken from January and February sightings only. Migration may be either spring or fall. To simplify the search NAWB gives the option of leaving out very rare birds or vagrants. The checklist box is only applicable when using a custom region. There are times when a checklist has been entered without any data on abundance or breeding status as it was not available. Since the program normally makes searches based on the above parameters a special code is entered for checklist data. When the checklist box is highlighted NAWB checks for this code when performing searches. BIRD PARTS ---------- Users with a Super VGA adapter can view an image showing the major parts of a birds body and the details about the head. Becoming familiar with these terms makes it easier to enter colours and field marks in the songbird search screen. REFERENCES ----------- Select Reference The user can select one of two reference books that the program uses to give cross-reference information. Registered users receive the Reference Book Editor utility which allows them to edit any of the included references plus add new ones. One could also reference field notes, cassette tapes, or range maps. After a bird has been selected, clicking on Show Page brings up a window with the cross-reference information. This data also comes up in the picture window for species where a picture is unavailable. CREDITS ******** The development of this program would not have been possible were it not for the generosity and co-operation of several individuals and institutions. The status and abundance codes for birds used in this program were taken with permission from the DISTRIBUTIONAL CHECKLIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, Volume 1 United States and Canada, by David DeSante and Peter Pyle, published in 1986 by Artemisia Press, P.O. Box 119, Lee Vining, CA, USA Original bird sound recordings were provided with permission by Lang Elliott/NatureSound Studio, P.O. Box 84, Ithaca N.Y. Complete recordings of these birds and other wildlife can be obtained on cassette or CD from Northword Press, P.O. Box 1360, Minocque, Wis. Text, and original paintings by J.A. Crosby, from THE BIRDS OF CANADA, Revised Edition(Ottawa 1986) by W.E. Godfrey. Reproduced with permission of The Canadian Museum of Nature. District of Thunder Bay checklist courtesy of the Thunder Bay Field Naturalists. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ********************* Any questions regarding this program can be directed to the author of this program - Frank Grau at the following number: (807) 768-8378 evenings EST Monday - Friday. All comments or ideas for improving the program should be directed to the author. Future projects include a windows version and search screens for all types of birds. I am also looking for bird images, range maps and bird sounds to enhance the program. All submissions are welcome.