The Field Guide shows you the species name in a tab near the top left side of the page. In Windows you will see multiple tabs if you opened more than one Field Guide page.
The Field Guide view will automatically open to the species you were viewing the last time you used the program. You can click the small arrow to the right of the bird’s name to show a drop-down list containing all the bird names. Then scroll up or down the list to find another bird. Use the scroll bar or use the scroll wheel on your mouse to do this. Click a bird’s name to view the new bird. The Field Guide view for that new bird will appear in a few seconds.
You may also type in the birds’ name. You should first click inside the box and highlight the words already in the box. The box will turn blue. Then anything you type will overwrite the old name that was there.
The program scrolls automatically to the first name that matches what you are typing, similar to auto-completion in many applications such as e-mail.
For example, if you sort by Common Name using taxonomic order and you want to see Northern Mockingbird, highlight the Bird Name box then start typing. In Windows, the birds that begin with “N” will appear just below the box. Continue typing to see birds that begin with “Northern”. You can scroll up and down to find your bird or continue typing. After typing “Northern M” the Northern Mockingbird will be the only bird that appears. Click the bird’s name to view the bird.
In Mac, the drop-down list will show all birds, but it will jump to the first bird that matches whatever you have typed so far. Northern Shoveler will appear as you type the word Northern. After you type Northern M, the first bird on the drop-down list will be Northern Mockingbird.
If a match is found, you can click on the bird’s name. You can also type in the entire name and hit Enter on your keyboard,
If the bird you want does not appear, consider these factors:
Did you turn on the filtering option? If so, you may be seeing just a small portion of the birds. Click the funnel icon next to the bird names, select “None” and then click OK. Now try again.
If you have a state or province Field Guide installed, does the bird appear regularly in your area? If not, it will not be on the list. (You can upgrade to the North American version and see 700 species)
The sort sequence you are using can display common or scientific names in the name box (see Sorting the List of Species). Try sorting a different way – such as alphabetical with last name first – then try again.
Are you displaying alias names? (see Customizing eViewer Settings). You may know a bird by the name Myrtle Warbler. When you have aliases turned on and type that name, the Yellow-rumped Warbler displays. That is the correct name for the bird once called Myrtle Warbler. If aliases are turned off, you will not find anything when you enter Myrtle Warbler.
Which language are you using: English, French, German or Spanish? Try setting the language back to English (see Tools | Options | Name List)