Animal profile

Labrador Duck

Camptorhynchus labradorius

AvesSandy coastal bays, inlets and estuariesExtinct

Field profile

The Labrador duck was a black and white sea duck of the northeastern North American coast, with an unusual soft-edged bill. It wintered from Nova Scotia to Chesapeake Bay. It was never common in records and became the first North American bird species known to go extinct after 1500, around 1878.

Published field notes

2024-10-25

Labrador Duck

Nobody ever found where the Labrador duck nested

The species went extinct around 1878 without its breeding grounds ever being located. Only about fifty specimens survive in museums, no eggs or nests were reliably described, and the cause of the decline has never been established.

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