Ducks

SALT LAKE CITY — Every state has so much mercury in its water that it’s dangerous to eat many of the fish caught in its lakes and streams — and Utah’s Great Salt Lake is no exception.

There are no fish in the lake, but mercury contamination travels through sediment and microscopic organisms into brine flies and brine shrimp. Ducks that live on the lake and eat those shrimp and flies end up being dangerous to eat.

All this and more was discussed Wednesday at this year’s Great Salt Lake Issues Forum, held every two years by Friends of Great Salt Lake, a nonprofit advocacy agency.

CLINTON -- Mindy Isakson finds it disturbing to see a 5-inch-long blow dart lodged in the neck of a female duck splashing about in the Clinton Pond.

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. -- Dawn came to the great river in a windless hush, the low sky brushed with muted pink and orange.

As light filled the backwater, a gray, cottony mass drifted overhead, obscuring the tops of the bluffs. Mist settled into the slough.

Mother Nature is a master at balance. As we sat in the damp stillness, the slate-colored sky came alive.

Flock after flock of waterfowl streaked over the horizon, wings ripping air as the birds banked and flared.

PLAIN CITY -- Changes to the livestock and fowl ordinance make owning birds less restrictive than it has been in the past.

NORTH OGDEN -- When it comes to drawing birds, the children of the Gray family are Utah royalty.

Brad Gray, 12, followed in the footsteps of his older brother and sister recently by winning Best of Show in this year's Utah Junior Duck Stamp Contest. His colored pencil drawing of a male Ruddy Duck beat out more than 400 other entries to take the top prize.

"People seem to do mallards a lot, so I just kind of decided to do something different," Gray said. "I thought the Ruddy Duck was interesting because I've never seen a duck with a blue bill."