Labrador Duck
From Freepedia
| Labrador Duck Conservation status: Extinct (c.1878) | ||||||||||||||
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| Image:Labradorduck15.jpg Old engraving | ||||||||||||||
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| Camptorhynchus labradorius (Gmelin, 1789) |
The Labrador Duck (Camptorhynchus labradorius) was a striking black and white eider-like sea duck that was never known to be common, and is believed to be the first bird to go extinct in North America after 1500. The last Labrador Duck is believed to have been seen at Elmira, New York on December 12, 1878; the last preserved specimen was shot in 1875 on Long Island.
Although hunted for food, this duck was considered to taste bad and rot quickly and consequently was not sought much by hunters though it is thought that the eggs may have been over harvested. It is also a possibility that they died out because of decline in or pollution of mussels and other shellfish on which they are believed to have fed. It was thought to breed in Labrador, although no nests were ever described, and it wintered from Nova Scotia to as far south as Chesapeake Bay. It was also known as a Pied Duck, a vernacular name that it shared with the Surf Scoter and the Common Goldeneye (and even the American Oystercatcher), a fact that has led to difficulties in interpreting old records of these species, and also as Skunk Duck. Both names refer to the male's striking white/black piebald coloration.
