Sidekick is for the birds

Say what you will about the Globe's Sidekick section (quick: What comic strip did "Spiderman" just replace?), I have to admit I've become an addict of the Wednesday bird-sightings report - in part because I've become convinced that every week, the Audubon Society puts in one whopper just to see if anybody's actually reading it. Take today's column:

A black rail was found on Saturday during the Nantucket Christmas bird count, and among the 133 other species seen were 2,876 Northern gannets, 1 American bittern, 28 redheads, 13 harlequin ducks, roughly 342,000 long-tailed ducks, 1,858 black scoters ...

O RLY? Only "roughly" 342,000 long-tailed ducks? That's mighty imprecise when compared to the 1,858 black scoters that follow. And how do we know they weren't the same 10 ducks spotted over and over by 3,200 birders? But maybe I'm just bittern because this was the first week in awhile that there weren't any reports of my favorite bird - the Eurasian wigeon.