I saw for the first time a Common Black Hawk flying over a rookery of herons, egrets and cormorants in the Sonoma County. I was with my local Audubon group, so plenty more got a great and close view. It was very exciting as I love raptors! And apparently it is the first to be seen in our county. I am looking forwards to hearing more about the local sighting!
Excellent sighting! Even down here they're regarded as noteworthy, and I've only seen the raptor once. There's only a few hundred breeding pairs estimated for all of North America according to the American Bird Conservancy, so that's really a great find.
(edit - Partners in Flight's estimate, which is more recent than the ABC estimate, puts the number considerably higher, more likely in the low thousands instead of the low hundreds, but it's still one of the rarest N.A. raptors)
you lucky gal!!!
:O)