This is the season I wait all year to enjoy — and not just for the cooler, dryer weather that makes it a joy to hike, bike and kayak.

It’s also the peak time to spot some amazing wildlife.

Florida is well endowed with animals and birds year around, but the same weather that brings our human tourists draws several species that are worth seeking out, especially now. Seeing these animals will take you all over the state – from the northeast to see right whales off the Atlantic Coast, through Central Florida for sandhill cranes, to the central Gulf coast for white pelicans, and up and down the peninsula to see manatees.

Even common animals are uncommonly easy to see: You can see alligators any day of the year, but in winter, dropping water levels concentrate gators in remaining ponds. Go to the Shark Valley entrance of Everglades National Park; if you don’t see 20 gators in an afternoon’s stroll, you need to go to the eye doctor.

Here’s how to pursue a peek at four more unusual animals best seen in winter.

A word of warning: With wildlife, you can go to the recommended place at the recommended time and never see the species you seek. If you want guarantees, go to the zoo. Here’s my philosophy: Set your expectations low. Plan an outing with multiple features and attractions, so that a wildlife sighting is a bonus.

RIGHT WHALES

Manatees may be the most lovable and panthers are the rarest, but Florida’s biggest endangered mammal may be one you didn’t know about — the northern right whale.

Right whales, which can grow to 70 tons and 55 feet long, are sighted every winter off the Atlantic coast between Jacksonville and Cape Canaveral. Hundreds of volunteers, plus visitors and residents of the state’s northeastern coast, get the thrill out of about 75 whale sightings between December and March each year.

Scientists estimate there are only 490 right whales. But thanks to a decade of work by volunteer whale watchers, we know that number is on the increase.

Right whales summer off New England and Nova Scotia. In November, some of the females, a few adult males and assorted juveniles migrate south for the winter. By December, they’re acting like tourists, lolling around the beaches off Florida’s northern coast. The whales, however, are here on serious business: Some of the females are pregnant and it is in these waters northern right whales give birth to calves and nurse them. In March, it’s time to head north again.

About 100 to 150 whales make the visit to Florida shores each year, according to Joy Hampp, who has been project coordinator for the Marineland Right Whale Project for the last decade. Calves can’t hold their breath long so they and their mothers must spend more time at the surface while in Florida.

Unless you live near the beach in northeastern Florida, consider yourself blessed if you experience even one right whale sighting, experts say. There are no whale-watching excursions: The whales are too hard to predict, plus boats could stress mothers and calves.

Visitors do see whales, however. Sally Wieczorek of Buffalo, who vacations in Flagler Beach each winter with her husband, has seen whales several times.

“One year, I heard there were whales and I ran up to the [Flagler Beach] pier to get a better look,” she said. “The whale had a calf, and they were being led by a group of dolphins. We could make out its markings; which was the mother and which the calf. It was really quite wonderful.”