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.
Further investigation also revealed that she had been devouring free-ranging chickens. 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. “The diagnosis: At over 910g in weight, she was too darn fat to fly! The raptors think they’re crows/ravens and will leave the flock alone. 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. “
We couldn’t even palpate her keel due to the heavy layer of fat covering it,” the centre said. Because i had a similar issue years ago, a fourth said: “Only laughing. “Miss RSHA 26-2599 is a mature adult hawk who was found grounded in a driveway about a mile from our facility.
After ruling out all the possible scenarios, the officials determined that the bird, weighing 910 grams, was “too darn fat to fly”. “The diagnosis ‘Fat’ has sent me,” said one user, while another added: “Keep a couple black chickens in your flock.
