It sounds like a great volunteer gig, forcing you to get out and wander around in the most spectacular city park in the metro. Glad to hear that you are not only enjoying Como Park, but got a surprising amount of fun out of the volunteer instruction packet. Yes, now that you mention it, that IS a curiously specific example.

I have to wonder if OCD Steve inspired not only the straw example but the whole riff on not climbing trees in the line of duty. Cardinals do not usually nest on the ground, do they?