My philosophy is changing somewhat. Originally seeing and recording the bird was the "quest"; now having a good photo is the "quest". I still have a hard time in the field not using my extenders. I still want to "zoom" in on that bird though I sometimes regret that later.I like the looser crop (wider). I like to see more of the environment and in this case I also like the composition more on the wider shot.
In my opinion a lot of photographers are more concern with cropping tight on the subject, ignoring the composition and the "story".