The Black burial ground in Fort Myers protects more than history.

“Protecting historic green space protects more than history. It protects habitat. Shade for the owl. A perch for the hawk. Open ground for the caracara. Sky for a young eagle to grow into its crown.”

– Ramona D. Miller

On October 9, family historian and cemetery preservation advocate Ramona D. Miller witnessed something extraordinary at historic Woodlawn Cemetery in Fort Myers: Three Crested Caracaras patrolling the grounds. The falcon relatives are typically known to inhabit prairies, rangeland, and other semi-open habitats in the deserts of Arizona, the Texas coastal plain, and the prairies and pastures of Central and Southwest Florida. But a cemetery near downtown Fort Myers?

Miller was raised in nearby Immokalee, an inland farming community in Collier County where Crested Caracaras are relatively common, yet Miller had never noticed one, let alone three, before that October day.

“A black cap like a crown. A bright face.…