Our critters: Who they are, where to find them

They're out there -- bald eagles, sturgeons, wild turkeys, right whales, coyotes, wood storks, swallow-tailed kites, minks, painted buntings, gray foxes, even skinks.

The Lowcountry is one of the richest places in the region, if not the country, to find exotic and even deadly wildlife. The list of cool critters is almost endless -- there are 39 species of shark alone.

A lot of Lowcountry wildlife has the whoa factor -- that stop-you-in-your-tracks awe when they appear. Here's where to spot a few.

Black bears

A few hundred of these 300-pound hunks of muscle and fur are estimated to live in the coastal counties. Most of them are found above the Santee River in Williamsburg, Georgetown and Horry counties. But a sustained population also lives in Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties. Surest sighting bets: Black bears like deep woods, such as in the Francis Marion National Forest, but usually are spotted only briefly, crossing roads.

Squirrels

WHITE SQUIRRELS are a variant of the common gray squirrel. The epicenter of the Lowcountry population is the Yonges Island area, but they have been reported as far as Ladson and Moncks Corner. Surest sighting bets: Drive slowly around neighborhoods near the tip of Yonges Island or golf the back nine of the Links at Stono Ferry.

FOX SQUIRRELS are larger and more graceful than the common gray squirrel, with brown fur and a black mask like a raccoon. Surest sighting bets: Naval Weapons Station in Goose Creek, Pine Forest Country Club in Summerville, pine plantation savannahs.

BLACK FOX SQUIRRELS are startlingly dark fox squirrels that looks like a cross between a tiny black bear and a skinny raccoon. Surest sighting bets: Around the nature center in the private reserve on Spring Island near Beaufort, pine savannahs.

Alligators

The prehistoric reptile is just part of the charm of Lowcountry ponds, brackish marshes, rivers, blackwater creeks, occasional drainage ditches, swimming pools and the ocean surf. More than 100,000 are basking somewhere. Surest sighting bets from land: Impoundments at the end of Lodge Road; Donnelley Wildlife Management Area in Green Pond, where they lie side by side by the dozens in the mud flats in warm weather; Cypress Gardens in Berkeley County.

Wild pigs

Believed to be the descendents of escapees from Colonial farms, feral hogs are the scavenging Roto-Rooters of the swamps, digging in after roots and chewing through crops across the state and country. It's open season on them, and more than 35,000 are hunted down in the state each year -- more than 4,000 in the tri-county area. Careful, when they feel cornered they will charge, bite and slash with their tusks. Surest sighting bets: Wetland bottoms, particularly in northern Charleston and southern Georgetown counties. You're more likely to see family groups of sows and piglets than lone males.

Manatees

Lowcountry water lovers report 50 or more sightings per year of the ponderous, seal-like creature with the puppy-dog face. Surest sighting bets: Near docks, particularly where a freshwater spigot runs; roaming estuaries and tidal rivers much like dolphins. You'll see the snout first as they surface to breathe.

Bobcats

Believe it or not, Kiawah Island appears to have the core population of the dog-size wildcats. More than 30 inhabit the tony beach resort, including a number that are radio-tagged for study. They are secretive, well camouflaged and hard to spot, but have gotten used to living nose-to-nose with people. Surest sighting bet: Yellow eyes staring back from the brush or a flash chasing a squirrel through an island parking lot from heavy cover nearby.

Black or brown widow spiders

The tiny, venomous arthropods are so commonplace in the Lowcountry that any number of them could be around your home right now. They prefer cool, recessed places. Surest sighting bets: Porch rails, shutters, shed eaves or junked cars. Look for cottony, almost patternless webs and tiny egg sacs that look like spiked white balls.

Eastern diamondbacks

Don't go looking. One of the most venomous snakes in North America and the largest rattlesnake in the world, the diamondback is longer than you are tall and as big around as a muscled forearm. It's so camouflaged that, if you look away it can't be immediately picked out again when you look back. It's an ambush predator that likes to hang in cover near where its prey runs. Surest sighting bets: Pineland, wiregrass, oak woods and lowland palmetto.