The Labrador Duck: A Tale of Modern Extinction

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The Labrador Duck was a beautiful black and white type of sea duck considered the first species of North American birds to go extinct during modern times. The last Labrador Duck to be hunted was shot in 1878 in Elmira, New York. It is presumed that the species went extinct shortly after.

The loss of the Labrador duck is not your typical ecological warning about the dangers of over-harvesting, market hunting, or a general lack of conservation, but a reminder of the fragility and interconnectedness of our ecosystems to the flora and fauna that inhabit them.

One of the many challenges for biologists and historians when researching past hunting, harvesting, and taxidermy records of the Labrador duck is that it’s a species with many names. It’s an eider-type sea duck, also known as a pied duck, which includes the Golden Eye and Surf Scooter, leading to confusion about which historical entries are appropriate for which duck. Colloquially, it was also known as a skunk duck and the sand shoal duck due to its respective skunk-like black and white appearance and proclivity for sifting through sand bars near shallow estuaries.