‘Too darn fat to fly’: Virginia hawk grounded after chicken buffetJosie Fischels Sat, November 7, 2026 at 7:47 PM UTC
(NewsNation) — A red-shouldered hawk in Virginia had to be rescued after she couldn't get off the ground. It turns out she'd eaten too much chicken.
The hawk was found sitting in a driveway about a mile from the Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke. Staff checked her for broken bones, lead poisoning, eye problems and other injuries that could have prevented her from flying, but found none of the usual signs.
Then they weighed her.
Wildlife center: Hawk 'too darn fat to fly'
The hawk weighed about 2 pounds. She had so much body fat that staff could not feel her keel, the ridge of breastbone wildlife rehabilitators typically check to assess a bird's condition.
A red-shouldered hawk in Virginia had to be rescued after she couldn't get off the ground. (Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke)
In short, she was “too darn fat to fly,” according to an update from the center.
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Wild animals rarely become obese in the wild, the center said, so staff began looking for a human-related cause. They asked the woman who found the hawk whether any of her neighbors kept free-roaming chickens. A few weeks later, she called back with an answer: Her neighbors' chickens had been disappearing at an alarming rate.
The center believes the hawk had discovered an easy, all-you-can-eat food source and settled in nearby. Each morning, when the chickens were let out, she would swoop down, grab one and then rest in nearby trees until she was hungry again.
Center staff advised people not to feed wildlife, either intentionally or unintentionally. For chicken owners, that means keeping birds in covered runs.
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Source: Nature
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