on 2 october 2020, tony B. Godfrey alerted the new Mexico birding community about an interesting plover of the genus Pluvialis at Maxwell national Wildlife Refuge, colfax county, northern new Mexico (36° 34′ 15″ n, 104° 34′ 54″ W, elevation 1840 m). the refuge is located in an open basin enclosed from the west by the sangre de cristo Mountains and from the east by high, scattered mesas. the refuge contains 3699 acres of playa lakes, short-grass prairie, woodlots, and crop fields. this plover had apparently been photographed by another birder at the same location several days earlier, on 28 september, but it was originally reported as a Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) via www.eBird.org and therefore wasn’t flagged for attention by that site’s reviewers for the date and location. Photos from 28 september were not submitted until many days after the observer’s initial report. the series of photos taken by Godfrey on 2 october displayed pale underwings and bright white axillaries, the latter unique among the species of Pluvialis to the european Golden-Plover (P. apricaria; see this issue’s outside back cover). in addition to the white axillaries, the thin bill, bright golden plumage, and short primary projection further supported the identification and eliminated both the Black-bellied Plover and american GoldenPlover (P. dominica). the last Pluvialis considered was the Pacific Golden-Plover (P. fulva), which is phenotypically similar and has a history of vagrancy, including to inland locations in the western united states. For example, there are four accepted records from arizona, three from utah, and one from idaho (Rosenberg et al. 2017, https://ibrc.idahobirds.net/rare-bird-reports/3-a-03-pacific-golden-plover, http://www.utahbirds.org/Reccom/RareBirdsindex.html). the Pacific and european Golden-Plovers both have similarly short primary projections, but the smaller bill, shorter legs, more prominent white bases to the inner primaries, and especially the
white axillaries and underwing coverts are diagnostic field marks of the european Golden-Plover. Given that the latitude of Maxwell national Wildlife Refuge (~36° n), similar to that of the southernmost portion of the european Golden-Plover’s winter range, it is plausible that the Maxwell plover could have survived the winter on the refuge. however, on 26 october, exactly four weeks after the bird was originally found, a strong cold front moved through the state, bringing temperatures of nearly –18° c and substantial snow. the plover was not seen after this date, and it is unknown whether it was killed or pushed to a more suitable location.