ENVIRONMENT
Thousands of dead birds are washing ashore at the Great Salt Lake
Feb 6, 2023, 6:00 PM
Tens of thousands of dead birds are washing up on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. Wildlife experts say it's all very normal. Ducks fly over the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve, as they approach a pond made from storm water in western Davis County on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
(Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — Tens of thousands of dead birds are washing up on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. Wildlife experts say it’s all very normal.
John Luft, program manager of the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program, said millions of birds migrate to Utah every winter. Between 10,000 to 20,000 of these birds die and end up in the Great Salt Lake.
Because the lake is so salty and cold, those birds aren’t decomposing.
“It basically pickles those birds, so they don’t decompose as they would in other places,” Luft said.
This means the birds washing up now, actually died months ago.
“They’re not freshly dead, they’ve been washing around through the waves for quite some time,” Luft said.
The only thing that’s different this year is that several dead eared grebes have tested positive for avian flu, according to Luft.
Previous years have seen cholera outbreaks kill thousands of birds.
Luft also says it’s normal for the dead birds to wash ashore all the way into July.
Further reading
- Avian flu kills wild birds in four more counties in Utah
- Bird flu causing egg shortage, high prices
- Bird flu responsible for death of 700,000 turkeys ahead of Thanksgiving, price hikes expected
- $40M Great Salt Lake trust beginning work with newly formed council
- BYU study: Great Salt Lake could dry up in 5 years if changes aren’t made
