Species

Justification
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.

Taxonomic source(s)
AOU. 1998. Check-list of North American birds. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.
Brooks, T. 2000. Extinct species. In: BirdLife International (ed.), Threatened birds of the world, pp. 701-708. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona and Cambridge, U.K.
Sibley, C. G.; Monroe, B. L. 1990. Distribution and taxonomy of birds of the world. Yale University Press, New Haven, USA.

Distribution and population
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).

Ecology
Birds presumably nested on sandbars and around sheltered bays and, in winter, foraged in shallow bays, harbours and estuaries (Chilton 1997).

Threats
Shooting and trapping on the winter quarters were certainly proximate factors in the species's 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).

References
Madge, S.; Burn, H. 1988. Wildfowl. Christopher Helm, London.

Chilton, G. 1997. Labrador Duck (Camptorhynchus labradorius). In: Poole, A.; Gill, F. (ed.), The birds of North America, No. 307, pp. 1-12. The Academy of Natural Sciences, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

Gourdin, H. 2009. L'eider du Labrador. Oiseau: 65-67.

Text account compilers
Brooks, T., Khwaja, N., Mahood, S.

IUCN Red List evaluators
Butchart, S., Symes, A.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2013) Species factsheet: Camptorhynchus labradorius. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 26/05/2013. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2013) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 26/05/2013.

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

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Additional resources for this species

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