There's been a regionally rare bird present on my "home patch" for over a week now, one which I hadn't seen or photographed before, and this left me determined in a rather possessive way to find it. I hadn't focused on the relevant eBird notifications, but my interest was piqued when I saw a report of a group's sighting. I went to the site that afternoon following some directions that I later realized were ambiguous and could refer to two different places. Naturally, I perched myself at the wrong one, but a helpful birder saw me sitting there, duly equipped with camera and binoculars, and asked if I was looking for the rarity. She told me that I was at the wrong place, and we walked together for a few minutes to reach the right one. Once we arrived, we spent a while while calls were being heard, but didn't see the bird. It's very helpful to have more than one set of eyes and ears looking, especially when the ears (like my own) aren't fully capable.
I went again the next day, and found that there weren't as many other people around. Armed with the amazing Merlin app (real-time spectrum analysis in your pocket!), it was clear that many birds were about, and that the rare one was among them. I did see it briefly as it flew from one tree to another, but couldn't get photos. I did get a couple of other nice views as consolation prizes, though, of a Common Yellowthroat and a Willow Flycatcher.
