The Cooper's hawk tend to occur in various types of temperate deciduous forest and mixed forest. They are also adaptable in all seasons to forested mountainous regions, especially foothills. The species may further make itself at home in some pure conifer forest, including the extreme southern part of the taiga but also in many parts of the west. The species can habituate favorably while breeding to various kinds of open woodlands, including small woodlots, riparian woodlands in dry country, pinyon woodlands, farmlands and floodplains. In fact, some authors felt the species increased locally in wooded parts of the Rocky mountains after human habitat fragmentation of once continuous woodland areas. Adaptability to forest fragmentation has also been reported in other parts of the range.