Free bird

FERNAN LAKE - Travis Shearer is a frequent fisherman at Fernan Lake, where osprey flying overhead are a common sight.

"They're part of the fishing experience," he said.

But never had he seen one wrapped and tangled and trapped in fishing lines until a recent visit there this month.

The Coeur d'Alene man knew he had to do something.

So he did.

"I couldn't just sit there and not try to help him," Shearer said.

Shearer was fishing off shore with about six others, about midway around the lake, when another angler caught a small perch, then tossed it back into the lake.

It didn't go very far, Shearer noted, and since it was injured, it floated near other fishing lines cast in the water.

That was when an osprey spotted it, and soared in.

But in the process, it got tangled up in a few lines, so much that it pulled a fishing pole into the water. The angler quickly retrieved the pole and cut the line.

Problem: The osprey became even more snarled in the lines.

"He tried and tried to get free, but got more tangled up," Shearer said.

The bird tried to fly and would get a few feet in the air before plummeting down. Every time it tried, it became more and more desperate, floundered more, and grew weaker as it fought to keep its head above water.

Shearer considered swimming out but doubted he would succeed in freeing the osprey.

Fortunately, the osprey made his mission not so impossible, when in a desperate attempt to get free, it splashed and fought its way closer to shore - enough to where Shearer decided he had a chance. He waded into the water, grabbed the fishing lines and pulled the bird in.

"Once he got to shore, I could see he was wrapped up pretty good," Shearer said.

The line was around the osprey's feet, wings and head.

"He was all caught up," Shearer said.

After a failed effort to toss a towel over the bird's head, Shearer pulled out a pair of clippers in his fishing gear.

While avoiding the exhausted osprey's beak, he distracted it with one hand, cut the lines from and pulled away the loose ends with the other.

The bird was free.

"You could tell he was relieved," Shearer said. "He was looking for help."

The osprey remained in the shallow water for about five minutes as it recovered.

"I just backed off and left him alone," Shearer said.

The strategy worked. In another few minutes, its strength back, the bird flew away.

"We waited anxiously and soon enough were relieved when the majestic bird took to the air and flew gracefully out of sight. Triumph!," Shearer wrote.

"I was just relieved," he said.

Shearer believed the osprey likely only had a few minutes left before it would have slipped under water.

"There's no way he would have made it," he said.

Still, he didn't think he did anything too special, other than being in the right place at the right time.

"I just got lucky," he said.

So did the bird.