[GEOS 372 Final Project] A map showing the distribution of Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii) sightings each decade between the years 1970 to 2020 across North America. The intended audience of this map ranges from wildlife conversationists to birding enthusiasts. Cooper's hawks are renowned for being among the few raptor species that have adapted well to urban environments. This map shows their distribution across the indicated decades relative to modern well-populated areas. Sightings on June 1st of each decade is used to represent the average Cooper's hawk population of that decade. The selection of this date reflects upon the approximate end of the annual breeding season for the species. Data source is collected from Nature Counts Canada (naturecounts.ca) and processed to create an interactive map using RStudio. References: Birds Canada. (2025). NatureCounts web application. Birds Canada. Available: https://naturecounts.ca. Accessed: December 1, 2025. Posit team (2025). RStudio: Integrated Development Environment for R. Posit Software, PBC, Boston, MA. URL http://www.posit.co

Ivy Hsu GEOS 372 L1A Nov 5 2025