Connors (1983) and Connors et al. (1993) confirmed that American (Pluvialis dominica) and Pacific (P. fulva) Golden-Plovers breeding in sympatry in Alaska are distinct species, a conclusion adopted by the A.O.U. (1993). Distinguishing these two species requires that the bird’s age or plumage class be determined first before the species can be identified. At any stage the identification requires close study, but adults in molt are the most difficult. In both species some prebasic molt takes place during fall migration. Because some field marks useful in juvenal or basic plumage, such as the color of the supercilium, do not apply to molting adults, many purported sightings of American Golden-Plovers have been questioned, and the distribution of adults in fall migration is uncertain. All or nearly all American Golden-Plovers occurring along the Pacific coast south of Alaska in fall migration are juveniles. In fact, there may be no certain records of adults in this region at this season (Paulson 1993). Because of uncertainty over published records, the California Bird Records Committee added the American Golden-Plover to its review list (Cole and McCaskie 2004), seeking documentation for all American Golden-Plovers in California from 2004 onward. This note is an attempt to focus attention on this issue in field identification.