I42, yourself and I had a rather close encounter with a large gull
pb84, Yes I remember that vividly - just south of the Hollywood sign. That could have ruined our whole day! Like my encounter, it was too late to react once we saw it.
Based on the flocks of birds preparing to migrate that I have seen in the past few days and the fact that I saw flashes of orange just before the unfortunate bird's demise, I have concluded that I hit a Robin ( not the European 'Robin Redbreast', but a thrush-sized bird!).
Around our gliding field, we often have encounters with large hawks and occasionally eagles. It is interesting that they will mostly move away as a glider comes to have a look at their thermal. I presume that is because of their good eyesight -they see us coming.