Welcome to the Audubon Bird Database Help Page
The purpose of this site is to provide a means by which to search the Audubon Bird Database. There are two search engines available: 1) The Main Search Page - http://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/bioinformatics/databases/birds.php and
2) The Advanced Search Page - http://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/bioinformatics/databases/adv_search.php?db=birddb_raw.
- The Main Search Page On this page, there is a "Download All Data" button and a "Download Scientific/Common Name Cross-Reference" button followed by two navigational links: "View Metadata", "Advanced Search" and "Help". Clicking the "Download All Data" button will allow you to download a file containing the entire contents of the database. The "View Metadata" link will take you to a page which describes the meaning of all the table fields. "Advanced Search" will take you to the Advanced Search page.
- The Advanced Search Page On this page, there is a "Download All Data" button followed by two navigational links: "View Metadata" and "Back to Main Search Page". Clicking the "Download All Data" button will allow you to download a file containing the entire contents of the database. The "View Metadata" link will take you to a page which describes the meaning of all the table fields. "Back to Main Search" will take you to the Main Search page.
Below are 5 criteria which can be searched: Genus, Species, Locality, English Common Name, Spanish Common Name and Country. Selecting a Genus will narrow down the choices in the Species, Locality, English Common Name and Spanish Common Name drop-downs to values in existance for the Genus selected. Select as many criteria as you wish, depending on the specificity of the search you wish to submit.
Once you have entered the criteria on which you wish to search, select the database fields you wish to see displayed. There is a checkbox for every database field. Once a checkbox is checked, that field will be displayed in the results. There are five checkboxes comprising the default selection: Scientific_Name, English_Common_Name, Spanish_Common_Name, Country, and Locality. Checking the "Check/Uncheck All" checkbox, will either check all or uncheck all of the checkboxes displayed. The "Reset to Default" button will restore the five checkboxes that were initially checked.
After you have entered the desired search criteria and selected the fields to display, press the "Run Search" button. At this point, the results will be displayed. Please note, red text stating "Searching for records..." will appear until all of the data has been loaded. All records can be sorted by clicking the field name link at the top of the column. Below the results display, the total number of records selected and total number of species selected is displayed. Next to these, there is a "Export These Records to a File" button. Pressing this button will create a file with the contents of the search you just executed. If there are any records with valid coordinates, a "Map These Records" button will appear. Clicking this button will open a new browser page and display a map on which all valid points are plotted. Also, upon executing a search, the list of checkboxes will be hidden from view. In order to see them again, press the "Show Field Checkboxes" button. Once pressed, the text of the button will change to "Hide Field Checkboxes". Pressing this button will hide the checkbox list again. Once the checkboxes are displayed, you can check/uncheck any boxes you wish. Upon changing the value of any checkboxes, you will see a "Re-Run Search" button. Click this button or the "Run Search" button in order to execute another search.
Below is a create-your-own SQL engine with SELECT, FROM and WHERE parameters. Both the SELECT and WHERE parameters are editable, so if you know the query you wish to enter, please do so and press the "Submit Query" button. Clicking either of the "Clear" buttons will clear out the text area associated with the "Clear" button clicked. If you need some assistance, click either the "Display SELECT Options" or "Display WHERE Options" button. Clicking the former will display a list of checkboxes. Once any of these checkboxes are checked, the name of the field will appear in the SELECT text area. After clicking the "Display SELECT Options" button, it will change to the "Hide SELECT Options" button. When this is clicked, the checkbox list will disappear. The "Display WHERE Options" button works in much the same way. It will display a list of checkboxes and when checked, the name of the field checked will appear in the WHERE text area. If there is more than one entry in the text area, the two entries will be separated by "AND/OR", and you will have to edit it to your preference. When you have created the query desired, click the "Submit Query" button and the results will be displayed.