The peregrine falcon is one of my favorites. I love the profile, the stateliness of his brow.

Plus, it’s a California bird and I am a proud coast-hugger. My state is the best, therefore all our animals are also the best. Well, at the very least, they are the most diverse in our nation. This is true: California is a biological “hot-spot” of diversity, because we have so many different climates and eco-systems. So our state has, if not the BEST of every kind of animal, then at least more kinds of animals than yours does. My state is awesome. Not that yours isn’t great, too. But mine is clearly better. At least bio-diversically, it is. (Yup, that’s totally a word. And I did not just make it up. OK, maybe a little, I did.)

Unfortunately, the scan makes the falcon look very faded. He’s in graphite, which doesn’t scan well. It always looks too, well, grey. And he looks more worried than noble. ergh.