Birding is sometimes like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get... or for that matter, when. I focus on my neighborhood wildlife I would rather see lifebirds here than travel elsewhere to find them. It is so much more of an enriching experience, especially if I am the first tgo discover it.
In some cases, though, it is beneficial to study a bird elsewhere so you know it well enough to recognize it in the neighborhood when it finally does arrive. Or perhaps it's just that I lose patience and take the easy way out. One example of lost patience was the Elegant Trogan, for which, after some years of hoping for a sighting in our neighborhood, I broke down and went to Madera Canyon, where I received excellent views.
It was the same story for the Sage Sparrow. I had been so hopeful of a sighting in our neighborhood
