Living on the edge of Elmwood Park allows me to hear children and dogs playing there all summer. I sometimes see the hawk sail up and out of the park and loop away, making me stop planting or weeding and imagine its view of us below. It reminds me of my neighbors' stories of wild turkeys trooping through their backyard and of the midnight deer standing on their back legs, front legs on our fence, stretching their necks out to reach as many of the leaves of my pole beans as possible.

When we came to Syracuse, I could tell that I would love the people, the food and the variable weather. However, the city's resident wildlife, snugged up against all the more predictable features of urban life, has been a fascinating revelation.