Baby osprey rescued from Pasco County brush fire

NEW PORT RICHEY (FOX 13) - A young osprey was rescued Saturday evening near a brush fire that's burning in Pasco County.

According to the Pasco Sheriff's Office, a citizen found the osprey in the area of Deer Lodge Road and Arrow Creek Road. The citizen believed the bird was injured.

Deputies responded and then called Laura Maidenberg of Tampa Bay Raptor Rescue.

Maidenberg determined that the osprey was only about five weeks old, couldn't fly yet and was fortunately not injured. She said the osprey likely came from where the fire is burning, and that its mother forced it from the nest or dropped it there.

The baby osprey will be taken to a rehab facility before being released in the same area in a few weeks.