Red-shouldered Hawk?

Hello! I kayaked at Eldon Russell today and really enjoyed seeing the prothonotary warblers! Thanks for managing those. I ran into Dottie and she told me about the birding events, so I am going to try to sign up in September! My question for today, is this a red-shouldered hawk or a different kind of hawk? It was hard to tell. Thanks!

Yes, good job, you saw a Red-shouldered Hawk. As an adult, they have a reddish barring across the chest and dark wings with white speckling, making them relatively distinct from our other hawk species. They are mostly a woodland species, whereas the more common Red-tailed Hawk is a bird of more open habitat with some woods, but both species do overlap and can be found together. As a bird of prey, they mostly eat small mammals, along with birds, snakes, amphibians, and even earthworms.

-Naturalist Andy Avram