Female Hawk Diagnosed 'Too Fat' To Fly After Overeating Chickens And Constantly Sleeping

In a comical turn of events, a red-shouldered hawk, weighing nearly a kilogram, has been diagnosed "too fat to fly" after she feasted on countless chickens and slept too often. Wildlife experts in Virginia said they had finally solved the mystery behind the adult hawk being unable to fly after she was found grounded in a driveway.

In a social media post, the Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center informed that the hawk, named RSHA 26-2599, was found near the facility. Upon being brought in, the experts tested her for injuries and other issues to determine why she was unable to take flight.

"Miss RSHA 26-2599 is a mature adult hawk who was found grounded in a driveway about a mile from our facility. On arrival, we checked for the usual suspects: Broken bones, lead toxicity, eye issues, head trauma, emaciation, bruising from any kind of collision or altercation. ALL were within normal limits," read the statement.

After ruling out all the possible scenarios, the officials determined that the bird, weighing 910 grams, was "too darn fat to fly". Further investigation also revealed that she had been devouring free-ranging chickens.

"The diagnosis: At over 910g in weight, she was too darn fat to fly! We couldn't even palpate her keel due to the heavy layer of fat covering it," the centre said.

"Our mystery was very likely solved! This queen was picking off the buffet of easy prey set out before her, eating her fill, and then snoozing in the trees nearby until she was ready to eat again. The chickens were let out in the morning, she ate another, and repeat. After weeks of repeating this feasting and sleeping, it's no wonder she got too fat to fly!"

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As the post went viral, social media users were amused by the 'fat' diagnosis and shared similar experiences where their chickens had been similarly targeted by the flying predators.

"The diagnosis 'Fat' has sent me," said one user, while another added: "Keep a couple black chickens in your flock. The raptors think they're crows/ravens and will leave the flock alone."

A third commented: "So how do you put a hawk (or any wild bird) on a diet? And once released, is it going to go back to its old habits and gain all the weight back?"

A fourth said: "Only laughing because I had a similar issue years ago. We had free-range chickens that were also getting picked off one by one, so eventually, we made a (huge!) movable coop that had a mesh screen to avoid them inadvertently becoming part of the local raptors' buffet. "

While the story might be funny, it could have had dangerous consequences for the vulnerable hawk, who might have been targeted by a larger predator. She would have been unable to fly or defend herself and perished in the process.