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Cooper's hawk
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===Parental behavior=== Incubation starts with the laying of the third egg.<ref name= Palmer/> Evidence shows that pairs may be able to successfully delay breeding somewhat if it is unusually harsh and snowy early spring.<ref name= Snowstorm/> The female mainly incubates (including throughout nighttime) though the male may substitute for 10β30 minutes after he brings his mate food, often doing so for about 2 to 3 times a day.<ref name= Meng/> The male usually roosts nearby during incubation, when he begins calling, she may join for 5β10 minutes before quickly flying back.<ref name= Palmer/> By the third week, she may leave the nest only to take food or to defecate. Incubation lasts for 34β36 days, but sometimes may be down to 30 days.<ref name= Palmer/><ref name=BOW/> Eggs may be discarded by the mother after hatching but those that never hatch are left in place. The female sleeps on the nest until the young are 2 weeks old. The young were photographed to sleep at night directly under her body until there is not enough room to do so.<ref name= Brown/> The male is rarely present at nest longer than 3β4 seconds after hatching but at least once was recorded staying for 3 minutes when coming with prey after the female stops heavily brooding. Most prey deliveries are intercepted by the female slightly away from the nest.<ref name= Palmer/> However, often the male does not perch far away, averaging about {{convert|765|m|ft|abbr=on}}, away from the nest during nesting to fledging stages, and occasionally as close as {{convert|120|m|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref name= Murphy/> The nest may be crowded while the nestlings grow, and the female may expand platform with additional sticks.<ref name= Brown/> Usually the male Cooper's hawk removes the head and viscera of prey before bringing it, then taking it to plucking stumps, although often the plucking is done right where prey is killed.<ref name= Brown/> Rate of feeding depends on brood size but is dictated in part by the availability and size of prey.<ref name= Kennedy/><ref>Snyder, N. F., & Snyder, H. A. (1973). ''Experimental study of feeding rates of nesting Cooper's Hawks''. Condor, 461β463.</ref> Only 2 to 3 food deliveries daily are usually necessary during incubation but the male has to hunt constantly once the young are large, rarely plucking and no longer decapitating prey.<ref name= Brown/> Peak deliveries are typically needed in about the 4th week.<ref name= Meng2/><ref name= Murphy/> 6β9 deliveries a day are usually necessary for broods of 3 to 5.<ref name=BOW/> New Mexican nests with adult females had 95 prey deliveries in 120 hours of observations, whereas nest with younger females (i.e. second years), there were 65 prey deliveries were observed in 120 hours, or 694 fewer prey individuals per square kilometer than nests on territories of adult females.<ref name= Lien/> The parents are non-aggressive usually when the nest area is breached but the female may dive and call if a person climbs directly to their nest, sometimes also the male, often doing so silently.<ref name= Palmer/> The reaction to human intrusion varies among individuals and probably with stage of nesting, hatch date, and probably prior experience. Generally, individuals rarely strike humans.<ref name= Meng/><ref name= investment>Rosenfield, R.N. & Bielefeldt, J. (1991). ''Reproductive investment and anti-predator behavior in Cooper's Hawks during the pre-laying period''. J. Raptor Res, 25(4), 113β115.</ref> Prolonged visits to the nest by humans, i.e. more than 30 minutes or around an hour, can cause temporary nest abandonment, and can be the cause of up to 1.2% of nest failures.<ref>Rosenfield, R. N., Grier, J.W. & Fyfe, R.W. (2007). ''Reducing management and research disturbance''. In Raptor research and management techniques (D. M. Bird and K. L. Bildstein, Editors), Hancock House, Blaine, WA, USA. pp. 351β364.</ref> During early incubation, the female often quietly flushes if a person comes up to nest tree or knocks on it but will sometimes call if someone climbs to the nest. After 2 weeks, she may begin to make "half-hearted" dives at the climber. After 3 or 4 weeks, some females still quietly flush but others grow increasingly aggressive with much variance in temperament. The aggressiveness increases around hatching, decreases for the first couple weeks after hatching, then quickly increases after 3 weeks. All dives at climbers are mock ones to early on but after the young are about 3 weeks old, either one of the pair may actually hit and draw blood from the climbers. Despite a reputation as a "somewhat aggressive" or even as being a hawk with a "very aggressive defense" towards humans in nest defense, the actual rate of attacks even at peak times seems to be very low and the reputation is thought to be fairly unearned.<ref name= Madden>Madden, K. K. (2011). ''Factors Influencing Nest Site Defense Toward Humans by Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter cooperii) in the Albuquerque Area''. Prescott College.</ref><ref name= Morrison>Morrison, J. L., Terry, M., & Kennedy, P. L. (2006). ''Potential factors influencing nest defense in diurnal North American raptors''. Journal of Raptor Research, 40(2), 98β110.</ref> Various researchers consider this species less aggressive to intruders than either of the other North American ''Accipiter'', and some even less so than red-shouldered hawks as well.<ref name= Bent/><ref name= Meng/><ref name= Madden/> Anti-predator behavior by parent Cooper's hawks against crows, red-tailed hawks and eastern gray squirrels were observed in Wisconsin to be surprisingly six times more often carried out by the male rather than the female.<ref name= investment/> Female defensive attacks are sufficiently forceful enough to drive away more formidable predators such as [[bobcat]]s (''Lynx rufus'') from the nest area.<ref name= Snyder/> When large quadrupeds walk under the nest, the female may utter a semi-alarm call but does not leave the nest.<ref name= Meng/>
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