From this and the other thread I think I've understood that you've definitely seen one Elegant Tern, you've seen another candidate bird but by your own assessment you're 'not that good with terns' yet you're 'having a fight with an ebird reviewer'. I don't always agree with Butty but I do on this one, the ebird reviewer doesn't seem to be being unreasonable.
It is likeliest to be an elegant tern. Given reports of two in the area, and given that a lesser crested tern is very rare in the region, I think I have a strong case for the identity of the bird.
A bit of context. Prior to this argument breaking out, I went to inat and got the bird identified there (the 'other' one):
Elegant Tern from Alicante, Spain on April 15, 2023 at 11:27 AM by hypercolius. I noticed a yellow bill, and then spent time trying to pick out another mega rarity from a horde ...
www.inaturalist.org
Then a mod emailed me and started the argument, in which he kept repeating that he could not rule out a lesser crested tern and so was witholding approval. This is despite 2 elegants being confirmed present in the area, and elegant being far more likely in the region due to a known colony in the Valencia area. Lesser crested is much, much scarcer here.
As this was ongoing, I made the mistake of asking him to approve of another sighting he was witholding approval on (lesser flamingo):
He looked at that, saw my Montagu's harrier photos, and accused me of trespassing inside the Montagu's harrier colony to get these photos, and chasing the birds around in there! He also demanded I remove my comments, despite the fact that ebird encourages such detailed reports in the field. I did this exact same thing last year without issue.
I have done nothing of what he claimed, and shortly before I reported him to the CLoO administration for that, I couldn't help but notice that his own photos from the same area are exponentially worse in quality. Could it be that he was just doing this out of spite?
The individual I mention I have repeatedly caught giving one or two-star reviews to photos I deem exceptional. The most offensive one I have observed is when he gave an exceptionally good, sharp, close photo of a pallid harrier a 1/5 for no real reason, forcing me to give it a 5/5 (Would have done so anyway):
https://ebird.org/checklist/S70913800
Upset, I asked about this individual on my local patch Facebook forum. Turns out, this person has been repeatedly accusing people of disturbing birds in the past and from what I understood was possibly reported for it at least once.
That's really the deal. I have posted the specific photo above to INat, would like to see what they think:
Elegant Tern from Alicante, Spain on April 15, 2023 at 11:27 AM by hypercolius. This bird is claimed to be a lesser crested tern by some, but a few on birdforum disagree
www.inaturalist.org
