COEUR d'ALENE — Doctors help people.

Dr. Ken Helal took that a step further when he helped an osprey in trouble, and likely saved its life.

Not that he would admit it.

“I'm not a hero, by any means,” Helal said Thursday.

Helal was on-call Aug. 5 and had to stay close to home, so he went to photograph osprey in a nest on a platform near Higgens Point for the first time in about a decade.

“It was kind of serendipitous that I went out there,” he said.

Through his 600mm Canon lenses, Helal noticed that one of the young osprey appeared to have a fishing line attached to its left claw.

Later, again through the long lenses, he saw a branch was attached to line, preventing the bird from trying to fly.

It could flap its wings enough to rise in the air just above the nest, but was "definitely restricted by this,” Helal said.

"It’s left root was wrapped pretty good,” he said.

Helal contacted Birds of Prey Northwest.

Jane Veltkamp, raptor biologist and director of the nonprofit raptor education and rescue center based in St. Maries, knew what to do.

She first turned to Coeur d’Alene's Parks Director Bill Greenwood for help to get through gates for access to the platform about 50 feet off the ground.

Access secured, Veltkamp reached out to Avista for bucket truck assistance to reach the nest and the entangled osprey.

"It was attempting to fledge, but could not, due to the fishing line entangling it," Veltkamp said.

Another young osprey lives in the nest, and both parents were still doing what parents do.

The rescue operation got a little easier when the approaching Avista crews likely frightened the young osprey, prompting it to break free of the line and take her first successful flight, Veltkamp said.

“It found the energy to break that fishing line,” she said.

A piece of the line remained stuck, but Veltkamp hopes it will not be problematic.

“The bird is free now,” she said.

“It truly takes a village in these types of situations to come to the aid of a young osprey,” Veltkamp said.

She said this is the time of year when fledglings are getting ready to wing it on their own. In about a month osprey will leave North Idaho and head for Central America, or even as far as South America.

She said if Helal hadn’t spotted the fishing line and sought help, the osprey likely would have perished as the rest of its family would have had to leave before winter.

“The bird would have died there,” she said.

Veltkamp said, sadly, it’s not uncommon for osprey and other birds of prey to get tangled in fishing line.

“These things occur when people carelessly discard their fishing line,” she said.

Helal hopes others who see an injured bird seek help.

He downplayed his role and credited Veltkamp for her efforts.

"She did the leg work,” he said.

Anyone who see an osprey in distress, can call Birds of Prey Northwest 208-582-0797.