Nature & Wildlife: The ULTIMATE Guide to Naples’ Subtropical Ecosystems

Right on the doorstep of Naples lie the Everglades, the mangrove estuaries of the Gulf and some of the wildest nature in the United States. Our guide to the manatees, dolphins, alligators, wading birds and wild cats of Southwest Florida, with the best places to see them.

Naples is the jewel of Florida’s Gulf Coast, with white-sand beaches, fine dining and a gracious way of living. Yet right on the city’s doorstep lies some of the wildest nature in the United States. Naples is the western gateway to the Everglades and the mangrove estuaries of the Gulf, and the swamps, bays and barrier islands around it are home to manatees and dolphins, rare wading birds and reptiles that look as old as the swamp itself.

For visitors ready to step off the golf course and into the wild, this is our guide to the native wildlife of Southwest Florida: what lives here, where to look and when to go.

Right on the city’s doorstep lies some of the wildest nature in the United States.

On the water: manatees, dolphins and sharks

Southwest Florida’s marine life is found in the brackish water of the coastal islands and on the shallow grass flats, where fresh water from the marshes meets the salt water of the Gulf.

West Indian manatees: southeast of the city, the Faka Union Canal at Port of the Islands is a protected warm-water refuge for manatees. In cold weather, layers of warm, salty water linger near the bottom of the canal, and manatees gather there through the winter. Further north, in the cooler months from about November to March, they crowd into Manatee Park in Fort Myers, where a canal of warm water from the power plant across the road runs into the Orange River. Watch from the banks, and never feed or touch a manatee: it is against the law to harass them.

Bottlenose dolphins: pods of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins are a familiar sight along the Naples coast and in Naples Bay, often riding the wake of passing boats. Eco-cruises and dolphin-watching trips leave from Tin City and the Naples City Dock.

Sharks: in the shallow grass flats and mangrove channels of the Ten Thousand Islands, studies have recorded juvenile nurse sharks and bonnetheads, small sharks that use the warm, sheltered bays as a nursery. Backcountry boat trips out of Everglades City and Marco Island pass through exactly this water.

Our advice: for manatees, set out in the morning from the marina at Port of the Islands on a cool winter’s day. The water is usually calmer early on, which makes it far easier to spot the gentle snout of a manatee breaking the surface.

Reptilian residents: alligators, tortoises and ancient swamps

Southwest Florida is famous for its armour-clad reptiles, and you can watch them safely from well-made boardwalks and protected preserves.

Alligators: to see large wild alligators in their element, head inland to the old-growth cypress forests. At Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and the Big Cypress Bend boardwalk in the Fakahatchee Strand, raised wooden walkways carry you directly over the swamp, where you can look down on adult alligators, and sometimes their young, resting in the duckweed below.

Gopher tortoises: you need not leave town to meet Florida’s ancient land reptile. The Naples Preserve, a 9.5-acre patch of old Florida scrub on the Tamiami Trail North, is one of the best places in the city to see gopher tortoises, and its raised boardwalk lets you watch them at their burrows without disturbing them.

Turtles in the wetlands: for a relaxed afternoon, visit Freedom Park, where restored wetlands filter the city’s rainwater before it reaches the Gordon River. A boardwalk of about 3,500 feet crosses the marsh, with pickerelweed and swamp lilies below and turtles and wading birds in the shallows.

Sea turtles: on the beaches, loggerhead sea turtles nest roughly from May to October. Keep the beach dark at night, fill in any holes and knock down sandcastles before you leave, and never disturb a nest or a hatchling.

Feature: the iguana invasion

While exploring the waterways of Naples and Marco Island, you are quite likely to spot a large, prehistoric-looking lizard sunning itself on a dock or seawall: the green iguana.

The exotic-pet legacy: green iguanas are native to Central and South America. In Florida they were first reported in the 1960s, in Hialeah, Coral Gables and Key Biscayne in Miami-Dade County, and escaped and released pets are the main way such animals reach the state. Today there are established populations on the Gulf coast in Collier and Lee counties, and the residential canals of Naples suit them well. They dig burrows beneath seawalls and feed on garden plants, including prized ornamentals.

An ecological challenge: males can grow to more than five feet long. Adults eat mostly plants but will also take bird eggs, and their burrows can erode and collapse sidewalks, foundations, seawalls and canal banks. Since April 2021 the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has listed the green iguana as a Prohibited species.

Did you know? Falling iguanas: green iguanas are tropical animals and cannot cope with cold. On the rare nights when temperatures in Southwest Florida fall close to freezing, they become cold-stunned and lose their grip on the branches, dropping onto lawns, golf courses and pavements. Most are not dead, and as the sun warms them they recover. FWC advises leaving them alone: a stunned iguana can turn defensive as it warms up.

Along the flyway: wading birds and raptors

The coastal mangrove estuaries and inland cypress strands around Naples lie on the Atlantic Flyway, one of the great migration routes of the Americas, and they draw birdwatchers from across the world.

Estuary and shorebirds: the mangrove estuary of Rookery Bay, just south of the city, is prime feeding ground for coastal birds. Look along the mudflats for roseate spoonbills, diving ospreys, herons and egrets, with bald eagles over the wilder country to the east. On Marco Island, burrowing owls live in protected burrows.

Deep in the forest: the inland cypress swamps are vital nesting and feeding grounds for woodland birds. At Corkscrew, keep your binoculars on the high branches for owls and the red-shouldered hawks that live there all year, and in the dry season watch for spoonbills and, in some years, nesting wood storks around the Lettuce Lakes. In winter, scan the low brush for the painted bunting, one of the most brilliantly coloured birds in North America.

Elusive predators: the ghost cats of the Everglades

International visitors often ask where to look for mountain lions or lynx. In Southwest Florida the answer is two native cats, each superbly adapted to the swamp: the Florida panther and the bobcat.

The Florida panther: what Floridians call the panther is the cougar, or mountain lion, Puma concolor coryi, and it is endangered. FWC estimates that there are about 120 to 230 adults in the wild, with the core population south of Lake Okeechobee, which puts the cypress swamps and pinelands of Collier County at the heart of its range. Panthers are solitary and most active between dusk and dawn, so seeing one in the wild is extremely rare. Watch for the panther-crossing signs on the roads east of town.

The Florida bobcat: a member of the lynx family (its Latin name is Lynx rufus), the bobcat is widespread across Florida and thrives around Naples. About twice the size of a house cat, it has a spotted coat and a short, bobbed tail. Bobcats hunt mostly at night but sleep only two or three hours at a time, so daytime sightings on quiet trails and refuge roads are fairly common.

The ULTIMATE Directory: zoos and sanctuaries

Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens: an accredited zoo in a historic botanical garden begun in 1919, at 1590 Goodlette-Frank Road. Do not miss the Primate Expedition Cruise, past the lake islands where monkeys and lemurs live, or Athena, a Florida panther left behind by her mother as a kitten in Big Cypress National Preserve in 2017, who could not be returned to the wild. Open daily, 9am–4:30pm.

Shy Wolf Sanctuary: in the countryside east of Naples, this charity rescues wolves, wolfdogs and other captive-bred exotic and non-releasable wild animals. Visits are small guided tours of about 90 minutes, five days a week (not Tuesdays or Thursdays), and must be booked online in advance: there are no walk-ins.

The ULTIMATE Directory: nature and wildlife preserves

Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary: less than an hour inland, the sanctuary protects what Audubon describes as the largest remaining old-growth bald cypress forest in North America. A 2.25-mile raised boardwalk winds through pine flatwoods, wet prairie and marsh into the giant cypress, and it is one of the best places in the region to see wild alligators, wading birds and nesting raptors. The boardwalk opens at 8am and closes at 3pm from 16 December to 30 April, and at 1pm from 1 May to 15 December.

Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center: the gateway to the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, which protects some 110,000 acres of mangrove coast and water. Inside are exhibits, aquariums and a hands-on touch tank; outside, local operators lead guided paddles into the mangroves. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 9am–4pm (10am–4pm in July and August).

Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk: inside the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, on the Tamiami Trail east of Naples, a quiet, unspoilt boardwalk leads into old-growth cypress, where alligators often rest in the water close to the walkway.

The Naples Preserve: a 9.5-acre preserve in the middle of town, on US 41 North at Fleischmann Boulevard, with a raised boardwalk of about 0.4 miles through pine flatwoods and oak scrub, built to protect and show its gopher tortoises. The boardwalk is open in daylight hours, and only service dogs are allowed.

Gordon River Greenway: a shaded green corridor of about two miles running through the middle of Naples, with boardwalks through mangroves and wetland. It is ideal for an early-morning or evening walk among native plants and wading birds.

Our advice: start with a winter morning at Corkscrew, when the birds are busiest and the air is cool; book Shy Wolf and a dolphin cruise before you arrive; and give every animal space. A good photograph is never worth disturbing it.