Bird Identification: CLOSED: Bird ID - bit of a difficult one!, 1 by ChirpChirp

ChirpChirp wrote:
I am hoping someone may be able to help identify this hawk/falcon. I observed it at a creek near where I live in New York state, unfortunately it was on the opposite side to where I was standing and even with the lens I was using I couldn't get a particularly good image of it. When I first saw it it appeared to have been feeding on something, again I couldn't really see what, and then it hopped up on to this branch.

I have included a cropped close up image, as well as the original to give some idea of scale of the bird.

Any help with this ID very much appreciated.