Anarhynchus montanus

Species in this genus were formerly placed in Charadrius, but Charadrius as previously constituted was paraphyletic with respect to Vanellus (Baker et al. 2007, Barth et al. 2013, Dos Remedios et al. 2015, Cerný and Natale 2022) (AOS 2024).

Nesting population mainly in Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado; breeding population exceeds 10,000 individuals; breeding range has contracted over the long term, but population not declining in recent years; threats not as great as previously believed.

GRANK needs further review. NatureServe Rank Calculator Version 6.2 yielded a rank of G4.

Breeding range extends from northern Montana south to Arizona (Corman and Wide-Gervais 2005), eastern Utah (Day 1994), central New Mexico, western Texas, and western Oklahoma, with a couple nesting records in northern Mexico (Knopf 1996, USFWS 2003). Mountain plovers formerly were abundant breeders in western Kansas, and Oklahoma (Knopf 1996), but now most nesting occurs in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, with substantially fewer breeding birds occurring in Arizona, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Mexico (USFWS 2003). Nesting habitat exists in Canada in southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan, but breeding has not been recorded there since 1989 (USFWS 2003).

During the nonbreeding season, mountain plovers range from central California, southern Arizona, central and near-coastal Texas south to southern Baja California and the northern mainland of Mexico to San Luis Potosi (Gomez de Silva et al. 1996); most of the global population winters in California, with fewer in Arizona, Texas, and Mexico (USFWS 2003); the remaining wintering grounds of significance are in the San Joaquin, Sacramento, and Imperial valleys, California (Knopf and Rupert 1995, Knopf 1996). There are major nonbreeding, nonwintering concentrations of birds in southeastern Colorado, and central and northeastern New Mexico (Knopf 1996).

Coded range extent refers to the breeding range.

The range-wide number of distinct occurrences has not been determined using standardized criteria, but the total probably exceeds 80.

Early decline probably was related, at least in part, to "market" hunting. Conversion of shortgrass prairie to agricultural land, primarily for winter wheat, has destroyed nesting habitat, as has planting of taller grasses in native prairie (Knopf 1996). Many nests were on prairie dog towns, which have declined since 1900 (Summers and Linder 1978). In many areas, farms have switched to new crops in the past 25 years, including extensive areas of sunflowers and millet; these fields remain fallow until early May after plovers have begun nesting. Farm equipment destroys many nests when fields are planted in May and many plovers renest there, later abandoning the nests when the crops become too tall. Wintering areas in California are under extreme pressure from conversion of cultivated fields to vineyards, orchards, and urban development; loss of grasslands; and potentially environmental contaminants (B. Leachman, pers. comm.; Knopf 1996; Knopf and Rupert 1995).

USFWS (2003) reviewed threats and recent information and came to the following conclusions. "Although there are many specific instances of grassland conversion destroying plover nesting habitat, nesting habitat does not appear to be limiting. Occupied prairie dog habitat is more abundant and more stable than previously thought, providing breeding and nesting habitat for plovers. Nesting appears to be equally successful on croplands as on native grassland. Distribution of plovers across the wintering range appears to depend more on annual farming practices and weather rather than on permanent habitat destruction." Further, "the threats to the species, as identified in the previous proposed rules, are not as significant as earlier believed, and current available information does not indicate that the threats to the species and its habitat are likely to endanger the species in the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range."