My favorite thing about St. Pete (FL) is the plants and wildlife. Today, when I arrived at work, I was greeted by a Wood Stork - just hanging out in front of th

My favorite thing about St. Pete (FL) is the plants and wildlife. Today, when I arrived at work, I was greeted by a Wood Stork - just hanging out in front of the office. It walked around out front for about ten minutes before leaving. I hear mockingbirds from 5 am to 10 pm (sometimes later). About 150 yards from our backdoor, there is a Norfolk Island Pine, which is the tallest tree on the southeast skyline, and there is always a mockingbird singing at the top. Every minute or two, the mockingbird's song overflows into a spinning leap. We never get tired of it. We also see blue jays, mourning doves, ibises, and cardinals daily. Jacarandas are very common, as are banyan trees and frangipanis. It's also normal to see great egrets hanging out at the corners of busy (by St. Pete standards) intersections or on front lawns. The actual city, as you'd think of a city, is small, so no matter where you are in St. Pete, you're 10-20 minutes from relatively undisturbed nature, where you can see alligators, manatees, gopher tortoises (one of my personal favorites), and other fun stuff. In our yard, we have wildflowers like spiderwort, climbing dayflowers, and pink wood sorrels, among others. Oh, and if you've never been to Florida, there are tons of lizards - mostly varieties of anoles More than the specific types of plants and animals, as cool as they are, the density of plants and wildlife makes it vibrant. We talk about moving, but we always derail that conversation with talk about the nature we'd miss.