April 4, 2008 Bird of Prey Now Arriving at Gate 64

I was on the 16th-floor observation deck at LAX, minding my own business while photographing the jets, when a large bird landed on one of the control-tower struts above me.  He or she looked at me, so I figure that it wanted its picture taken, or it wanted to eat me.  Later, it flew around and came back to the same resting place for another visit.  I was deemed too large to kill without assuming tremendous bodily harm, apparently.  The bird is a falcon…perhaps a peregrine falcon??