Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species was formerly distributed along the northeast coast of North America, but it is now Extinct as a result of hunting. There are no records since the collection of the last specimen, in 1875.
Population justification
No extant population remains.
Camptorhynchus labradorius probably bred along the Gulf of St Lawrence and coastal Labrador, Canada, wintering from Nova Scotia south to Florida, USA (Gourdin 2009). The last confirmed specimen was collected off Long Island, New York, in 1875 (Chilton 1997), or possibly 1878 (Madge and Burn 1988).
Birds presumably nested on sandbars and around sheltered bays and, in winter, foraged in shallow bays, harbours and estuaries (Chilton 1997).
Shooting and trapping on the winter quarters were certainly proximate factors in the species' extinction. Overharvest of birds and eggs on the breeding grounds could also have been a factor (Chilton 1997), and it is likely that ecosystem-level effects following the arrival of Europeans reduced the supply of available food (Gourdin 2009).
Text account compilers
Brooks, T., Khwaja, N., Hermes, C., Mahood, S.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Labrador Duck Camptorhynchus labradorius. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/labrador-duck-camptorhynchus-labradorius on 21/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 21/12/2024.