The subspecies also occurs occasionally in southern New Mexico and southwestern Louisiana. The crested caracara is a bird of open country. Adult caracaras tend to spread thinly over a wide area, with each pair maintaining a large territory. The primary cause for the decline of the crested caracara has been habitat loss. Real estate development, citrus groves, tree plantations, improved pastures, and other agricultural uses are all vying for the same habitat.
Most caracaras occur on privately-owned lands in Florida.
A few birds may wander east to Merritt Island, Cape Canaveral, and Patrick Air Force Base, or north to Ocala National Forest, but these would be transients. The only Federal land on which the bird might permanently reside is the Air Force's Avon Park bombing range in Polk and Highlands County. Without any significant areas of habitat under State or Federal protection, long-term survival of the Florida population will depend largely upon finding innovative means of preserving the extensive tracts of prairie habitat in private ownership. The scarcity of the birds, combined with their scattered territories, makes it difficult to detect changes in numbers. The Florida population should be closely monitored to assure that a population threatening decline does not go undetected.