I have always let observations show themselves to me. Often I turn or look “for no reason “ to be shown a new observation,sometimes deer or Turkey looking back. I “ hunt” morel mushrooms the same way, let them show themselves.
The concept of looking for specific observations escapes me. Unless I’m watching a particular plant or fungus for change, but then, it’s already shown itself once.
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@sedgequeen very tempting, unfortunately money is a big stumbling block for me.
The other issue lol- I’ve been known to literally take a 1000 photos of bonfires, (pareidolia is another interesting subject) my profile picture is a favourite of the results that came from one of those nights.
I’m the same, but sometimes I’ll ask, and sometimes it works. A couple years ago I was taking my nephew out to look for bugs and I told him that I hoped to see my favourite, Hemaris, and before we even crossed the road to the lilac I was bringing him to, we could see it. Love it!
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For me mostly it’s serendipity, but there are some cases where I am hunting for a specific species, i.e. a rare wasp (I focus on pollinators) that I have seen on a specific plant before. Sometimes I’m rewarded, sometimes not; always the targeted hunt leads to observations of other species.
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It depends. I am no researcher, just a hobbyist. Sometimes I try to search especially for animals I don´t recognize and sometimes I just take a picture of every animal that is possible to photograph on the place (I don´t ID plants that often - yet). I try to capture all possible animals on my little garden as I´ve been fascinated by the enormous diversity it hosts! And I also am interested especially in identification of species living in my area so I get to learn them well.
When I go somewehere new, I take a look how much the place is visited by other iNaturalist users and what species they found there.
Oh yes and I also don´t photograph animals that are impossible to ID from my photographs because of quality issues. 
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Ah, yes, but that rare wasp showed itself to you, so you already knew where to re-look!
Just today I found my first pink ladyslipper orchid,(past bloom, but still, seedpods!) by stabbing my boot toe on a little stump by the orchid…
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Reminds me: Once I was on a rare plant survey where I didn’t find any rare plants – until I slipped on a steep slope and fell face-first into it. So it goes.
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I no longer worry about whether or not an observation is ‘interesting enough’. I photograph the things that catch my interest and that I can get good(ish) photographs of. I know that It doesn’t matter if it is simply yet another observation of the first dandelion of the season or a shot of some obscure micro moth because someone out there will eventually find the observation useful and even interesting.
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Once a very competent professional botanist and I were on a rare plant search for Platanthera flava. We had great directions (“37 paces northeast of the telephone pole numbered 526” sort of directions) but we spent a couple of hours searching thick grass in vain. At the end, we were standing about 6 feet apart debating what to do. One of us - I no longer remember who - looked down at her feet and said, “Oh, THERE it is!” At least we didn’t have to fall down?
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I agree. When I visit a new park in my city, I take pictures of moat things, even though I know them, so I can compare the biodiversity there to other parks. That just makes me happy.
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I am just a citizen, but I love learning by adding observations.
During the spring and during CNC and while going to a new location I definitely try for at least one of everything. I also think if it “volunteers”, I have to add it. For example, a scorpion in the middle of a trail - no UV light required. One night I observed 13 Anaxyrus boreas (Western Toads). I added all of them because I know enough to know that I may NOT KNOW if they were all actually the same species. Also, the quantity in that location at that time may be significant to someone who knows a lot more than I do.
That being said, once I’ve made an observation of something for the season or the day/night in a location, I may be done with it until next year because there may be so many, so frequently, that I would never get far. (I’m looking at you, Eleodes acuticauda, Ceuthophilus hesperus and ants.)
Favorite taxa will always be added as an observation. I always hope to find something that I don’t already have, something that is a favorite, or something completely new to me.
And if I don’t, that’s ok.
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I wonder how researchers do it. I must be doing it wrong. I did try to find a small plant that I knew had to exist in my backyard, so to speak, as the habitat ticked all the boxes. My main problem was that I can’'t bring myself to ignore the millions of other interesting things I see while out. Although I explored all the right places, searching the neighbourhood of the plants that my target normally associates with, for two years in a row I couldn’t find one single specimen. Eventually I gave up. The irony: when I stopped looking for it, I literally stumbled over it – it was growing right in the middle of the path. :-)
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Well, that’s the difference between being a general naturalist who goes into the field to see whatever you can see versus someone like an academic, agency, or contract biologist who has a particular target species they are interested in surveying or studying. If you’re targeting a specific species, the timing and location of your field work is based on your knowledge of when/where the species is likely to be present; you also have some knowledge of the microhabitat in which to conduct your search. Maybe you time your survey after a period of good rainfall, or in a certain month, or a certain hour of the day depending on the life cycle or activity period of your organism. Planning requires some homework. Special equipment such as spotlights or traps might be needed. Obviously you can detect other organisms of interest while doing this, but the approach is much more constrained than a typical jaunt in the field.
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If you’re looking for specific species you don’t ignore others, it’s the reverse, through looking at e.g. flowers you find pollinators, through looking at birds and going out of path you find plants, etc.
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