The first time was in 2006 in Spokane, Washington. The second time was a few days later in Troy, Montana. The third time was this morning while biking the East Bank of the Los Angeles River.
I managed to point-and-shoot my point-and-shoot at it as it headed upstream (click it for a not very much bigger picture):
Never in my life did I imagine I’d see one of my rarest-seen birds, right in my own backyard.