What bird of prey did I see (SoCal)?

I was walking home and there was this large bird sitting on the gate in front of my house! Don't know why it decided to land in that random area but it could be because there are lots of woody trees in front of that gate.... It was reddish and brown and had a long tail... It was not striped... I couldn't see the front of the bird, it was at least 2 ft tall... It wasn't until I got like 4 feet close to it that it flew away. It just glided out and like didn't flap it's wings.... By the way this is in southern California during the summer...