Vagrant
Taxonomic studies of what was called the Lesser Golden Plover resulted in its separation into two species, the Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva and the American Golden Plover Pluvialis dominica (British Ornithologists Union Records Committee 1986).
A bird seen at Skokholm on 26 September 1981 (G.G. Gynn) was described in sufficient detail to retrospectively ascribe it to the American species, the first to be recorded in Wales.