Yeah, that's how it seemed to me too.

From my understanding, each Pokedex is blank to start with and you have to fill it up by at least seeing Pokemon, if not catching them, and seeing them triggers the info about them to boot up. I'm glad I don't have to catch them first, as so far I only have one kind.

[His three Eevees pop up at the bottom of the screen and chirp greetings.]