ML644515198

Observation details

We found out about this bird because a Dutch birder told us, his friends had seen this bird and thought it could be a Royal Tern. We originally expected it to be a Lesser Crested Tern because we didn't know at the time that both West African Crested and Elegant Tern were a good possibility there. Lesser Crested Tern is what we reported it as originally. The bird has undergone an interesting discussion among Spanish reviewers who kindly informed us about the current status. The final decision is West African Crested Tern due to large size, bill structure and coloration. This explains the original belief it could be a Royal Tern. In the field, the bird did seem large but it was not among Sandwich Terns but in a mixed flock of gulls so the larger size did not stand out to us enough. Thank you very much to the finders and the Dutch birder who pointed it out. And also thank you to the great work of the Spanish reviewing team and their regular updates. We are going to do some more research into the bird now because we were not familiar enough with yellow-billed terns.