still with the birds

Wednesday, April 14, 2004, at 06:43AM

By Eric Richardson

So I'll never understand the LAPD chopper. This morning it woke me up. I tried to just ignore it, to fall back asleep, but it kept circling. It was here for at least twenty minutes, every thirty seconds or so coming into view overhead on the northern edge of its rotation. It was flying pretty low, too, so it was loud. Then, all of a sudden, it started using the loudspeaker. I couldn't quite catch what it said as I moved out to the balcony to get a better vantage point. Immediately afterward it veers off and makes a bee-line for downtown. No clue what it was doing here.

In other news, I think I discovered today that pidgeons are trying to make a nest on our balcony. They're also undeterred by the openings and closings of the door.