10 Best: Endangered Animal Encounters

1. Most Gulfshore waterways won't disappoint visitors hoping to get a glimpse of this gentle aquatic mammal, especially during the winter months. Lee County Manatee Park in eastern Fort Myers is an excellent place to see endangered West Indian manatees grazing, playing and caring for their young. They also can be seen around the Ten Thousand Islands.

2. Captain Hook's toothy nemeses, American crocodiles, are rarer in Southwest Florida than their alligator cousins. How to identify a croc? 'Gators stick to freshwater, while crocodiles are typically found in brackish estuaries or coastal habitats. The J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island is home to one American crocodile, but Everglades National Park otherwise is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles exist side by side.

3. Found in pinelands and mixed swamp forests, the Florida panther is tan with a white underbelly and black tips on its ears and tail. The Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, 20 miles east of Naples, is the last remaining habitat for these cats. Panther tracks have recently been seen in Big Cypress National Preserve, but the few remaining wild panthers avoid people. For a guaranteed panther encounter head to Panther Glade at the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens.

4. The Southern bald eagle is smaller than Northern eagles but has the same distinctive white head and powerful talons. Sometimes spotted flying above Bonita Springs or Cape Coral or in Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve, the nesting birds have been a point of contention between environmentalists and developers in recent years. Head to the Calusa Nature Center in Fort Myers or the Conservancy of Southwest Florida's Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic in Naples for a closer look.

5. The mangrove snake is closely related to the Atlantic salt marsh snake and is one of the few snakes that can tolerate living in and around salt water. Although said to be nocturnal the snakes have been spotted in the daytime at Lovers Key State Park in Lee County and Collier Seminole State Park south of Naples. To see one up close, visit the Calusa Nature Center in Fort Myers.

6. A favorite of birders, the small azure Florida scrub jay is only found in Florida scrub-open areas kept from growing into mature pine forests by sporadic wildfires. To see this rare species, the best bet is to head north to Oscar Shearer State Park in Sarasota County, where an established colony of scrub jays is so comfortable with visitors that the birds sometimes approach picnickers and beg for food, although feeding is not encouraged.

7. Although a year-round resident, the wood stork is most often seen in winter months feeding in roadside ditches or canals, especially in Collier County. Larger than egrets or herons, wood storks are white with stout bills and dark, featherless heads and gangly legs. The largest nesting colony of wood storks in the U.S. returns to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary annually to nest in its treetops. Park officials there are concerned, though, as fewer storks are nesting each year.

8. The Atlantic green turtle shares Gulfshore beaches with its kin, the threatened loggerhead and endangered leatherback sea turtles. Sometimes seen in Charlotte Harbor or accidentally caught by fishermen off Fort Myers Beach, this creature is one of the largest sea turtles. When green turtles are young they spend at least a year out at sea then reappear to graze on marine plants and return to the beach where they hatched.

9. Only serious birders might recognize the endangered Everglades snail kite, a medium-sized bird, similar to a hawk, with a 45-inch wingspan. The snail kite is entirely dependent on apple snails, and uses its hooked beak to extract the freshwater delicacies from their shells. The endangerment of snail kites is linked directly to apple snail habitat loss. You are most likely to spot a kite in Everglades National Park, particularly near the Shark Valley entrance south of Naples on U.S. 41.

10. The gopher tortoise, so named for its ability to dig burrows, lives on land and does not enter the water. The tortoises eat low-growing plants and berries and are threatened by the loss of dry upland habitat to development. You may see one of these slow-moving creatures grazing along the beach dune paths at Barefoot Beach Preserve County Park. Gopher tortoises also reside at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida's Nature Center.