Labrador Duck, (sculpture).

Labrador Duck, (sculpture).

McGrain, Todd, sculptor.

Labrador Duck, (sculpture).

Dedicated Aug. 2008.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: concrete.

(On small plaque on concrete base:) Labrador Duck - extinct / Last seen on this site / December 12, 1878

The larger than life size bronze Labrador Duck sculpture is mounted on a cylindrical concrete base adorned with a small inscription plaque.

Animal -- Bird -- Duck

Outdoor Sculpture -- New York -- Elmira

Administered by City of Elmira, Elmira, New York

Located Brand Park, Near junction of Maple Avenue & Catherine Street, along south bank of the Chemung River, Elmira, New York

The Labrador Duck was a brackish, salt water bird, subsisting on small mollusks along the coast of North America, from Chesapeake Bay to Nova Scotia. New York’s Long Island would have been a favored location for Labrador Ducks, as it would offer abundant coastline in the middle of the bird’s migratory path. The males had black and white mating plumage, and females a more muted blue-gray pattern with black and white highlights, similar to that seen in the Common Eider. The duck had a specially evolved beak for probing the silt of shallow waters, and is thought to be the first bird to go extinct following European settlement in the New World. The extinction of the Labrador Duck did involve uncontrolled hunting, but as the animal had an unpleasant taste, it was not a commercial dining commodity. It is thought hunting of the birds for the feather trade of the Nineteenth Century, and also their eggs, were prime reasons for the extinction, as well as loss of habitat to human development. The duck had become rare by the 1870s and a young boy in Elmira shot the last known example of the species on December 12, 1878, along the south bank of the Chemung River in what was then known as Buttonwoods, and is present day Brand Park. At this period of time, Elmira was experiencing foul weather and the duck, possible blown inland by storms, provided a welcomed meal to his family. However, the inedible head and wings of the bird were preserved and provided positive identification to experts.

The Labrador Duck sculpture in Elmira was created by Todd McGrain, Associate Professor of Art at Cornell University, and is one in a series of extinct fowl in the Lost Bird Project. The Lost Bird Project is an effort to place larger-than-life bronze sculptures of extinct avian species near the location of their last known sightings. The sculptures are not biologically correct, as they are conceived to reach out and grab our awareness of a sad event of our existence. Mr. McGrain states: “They compel us to recognize the finality of our loss, they ask us not to forget them, and they remind us of our duty to prevent further extinction.” A documentary film of the same name covers the Lost Bird Project. The Lost Bird Project Memorials and locations are: the Carolina Parakeet in Okeechobee, FL, the Passenger Pigeon in Columbus, OH, the Heath Hen in Martha’s Vineyard, MA, the Great Auk on Fogo Island, Newfoundland, and the Labrador Duck in Elmira, New York.

Orzell, Bill, 2012.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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