ESPN Hunting

Looks like we will have a fairly generous bag limit on waterfowl this fall. In California, the daily limit will be seven, which may include:

• seven mallards (but not more than one female);

• one pintail (either sex);

• two redheads (either sex);

• two scaup (either sex);

• no canvasbacks.

Everyone is now required to take and pass hunter education to get a license. And in the class booklet, there are some pictures of common species of game birds that must be identified on the test, but it's hard to ID a bird flying past at 50 mph, especially when it comes out of nowhere, conditions in the field not always being ideal.

You are back in the blind. The wind is blowing 25 mph out of the north and droplets of rain or snow are flashing past. You can hear the birds working up there in the blue-black sky, calling and wings whistling, but you really can't see much more than faint strings of black images streaking past.

In such low-light conditions discerning the sex and species of a duck — a hen mallard from a female gadwall; a female pintail from a widgeon or gadwall; or a ringneck duck from scaup — is not easy. Nor is recognizing subspecies of Canada geese and distinguishing between a snipe, a killdeer and a willet. But shoot the wrong thing and you could be looking at a hefty fine.

According to a recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey, the number of hunters 16 and older declined by 10 percent between 1996 and 2006, from 14 million to about 12.5 million.

At the same time, the number of avid "wildlife watchers" has increased by 13 percent. More than 71 million people participate in at least one type of wildlife-watching activity.

Sometimes there is antagonism or uneasy co-existence between hunters and bird-watchers. Each can learn from the other, and when it comes to identifying birds, their "bible" for many years has been "The Field Guide to Birds" by Roger Tory Peterson.

The original edition came out in 1934, and its use of silhouettes, color plates, concise descriptions and ranges, etc., compressed into in a small, portable size, revolutionized bird identification in the field. Selling over eight million copies, Peterson went on to write a number of other wildlife field guides, making make him one of the best-selling authors of the 20th century.

Peterson passed away in 1996, but on August 28, 2008 — the day Roger Tory Peterson would have been 100 — Houghton Mifflin honored Peterson's legacy with a new field version, "Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America." (List price $26.00)

The new 530-page guide includes: digitally enhanced versions of Peterson's original paintings; 40 new paintings; new colorful range maps; revised text that is concise but helpful; and access to three hours of video podcasts that can be viewed on a desktop or portable digital media player, also including a 10-minute profile of Peterson.

Its podcasts, which includes some birdcalls, have already helped me identify the nighttime cries of a juvenile owl that has been keeping the neighborhood awake for weeks.

The new guide includes a color painting of every bird, important questions to help make identification in the field and special guidance on unique features of each species that distinguish it, as well as help with identification of silhouettes, flight patterns, and calls.

While it's comprehensive enough to cover all the flying critters of North America, it's small enough to fit in a backpack.

With a foreword by Lee Allen Peterson, Roger Tory's son, this new version will increase your hunting skills and deepen your nature wisdom year-round. In short, it's the sort of book every bird hunter needs to own and use.

As a master permit bird bander, I have owned my copy of Peterson's field guide for 45 years. It goes with me on any significant trek into wild places and is a constant reference at home. That faithful copy now gets retired to the bookshelf, and this new, beautifully illustrated volume takes its place.

James Swan — who has appeared in more than a dozen feature films, including "Murder in the First" and "Star Trek: First Contact," as well as the television series "Nash Bridges," "Midnight Caller" and "Modern Marvels" — is the author of the book "In Defense of Hunting." Click to purchase a copy. To learn more about Swan, visit his Web site.