2025 Patreon Print Recap 10/12: Labrador Duck
Patreon reward for October 2025
Edit: Somewhere in writing my initial blurb about the Labrador Duck, I'm guessing I accidentally hit the "9" key when I meant to hit the "8" key... this resulted in me not only having the incorrect year of extinction in the info about the species, but also in the final print (⸝⸝⸝-﹏-⸝⸝⸝) The Labrador Duck went extinct in 1878, NOT 1978. Please do better than me and proofread things you write before committing weeks to a project. Okay that's all I love you.
The Labrador Duck, Camptorhynchus labradorius, is an extinct sea duck species. It is notable for also being the first endemic North American bird species to go extinct after the beginning of the Columbian Exchange.
Labrador Ducks were specialized to feed on mullosks, such as snails and clams, and some fishermen even reported catching them accidentally when using mussels as bait. Their bills were highly modified from that of most ducks, having a wide, flattened tip with lamellae inside. The beak was also notably "soft," suggesting that they may have used their beaks to probe for food in sediment.
The reason for the Labrador Duck's extinction is difficult to identify. They were said to have tasted bad and rotted quickly, making hunters generally avoid them. However, egg harvesting and feather demand may have had an effect on the species' population. It seems like human influence on the Eastern North American coast played much more of a role in the demise of the species. On the Eastern Seaboard, increasing human population and industry led to a decrease in shallow-water mussel populations, a food source that the Labrador Ducks were dependent on.
The last known Labrador Duck was shot in 1978 in southwest New York. According to legend, it was shot by a teenage boy hunting for food for his family. By the time a local ornithologist arrived with hopes of collecting the skin, the bird had already been plucked and eaten. All that remained were the head and some feathers, but this was enough for the specimen to be identified as the last known Labrador Duck.
