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Exotic bird fights passengers at Chicago airport
The bird reportedly fluttered around Terminal Five for hours before a janitor caught it with a shirt and a vet scanned it for a microchip; nobody has boarded it.
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At a glance
- First reported by UPI: “Watch: Exotic bird flies into Chicago airport, fights with passengers”, with reporting from Simple Flying and ABC7 Chicago.
- Covered on BBN on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 7:26 PM ET on BBN Tonight, by Dale Bearman and Hank Ledger.
- Topics: Chicago.
- BBN covered this story before: Chicago Fire lose 1-0 despite five times New England's expected goals (October 18).
The real story
The reporting behind this segment. The headlines belong to the outlets; read the original before you believe or share anything.
- UPIWatch: Exotic bird flies into Chicago airport, fights with passengers
- Simple Flying“Fight, Not Flight”: Exotic Bird Attacks Passengers Inside Chicago O’Hare Terminal facts used on air
- ABC7 ChicagoO'Hare bird: Exotic green bird seen flying around inside Terminal 5 at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, video shows - ABC7 Chicago facts used on air
What BBN said about it

Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorAn exotic green bird flew into a terminal at Chicago O'Hare and was filmed fighting with passengers and airline workers, UPI reports.

Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorFighting. A bird. Against people who outweigh it by about a hundred and fifty pounds.

Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorIt came in through an open door and perched on heads and luggage.

Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorA worker says it rode a backpack, then nipped at the man's neck and ears.

Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorEars.

Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe worker who filmed it said people kept trying to grab it or be nice to it, but the bird chose fight, not flight.

Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorNobody knows the species.

Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorIt might be a parrot. And if it spent hours in that line, I'm not surprised it started with the ears.

Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorSo why attack anyone? Fear, maybe. Or it saw the Air France line and had a view.

Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorMy theory is it's been scouting. One bird gets in, learns where the luggage sits, and then the flock simply books a flight.

Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorA janitor reportedly caught it with a shirt, then it went to a vet to be scanned for a microchip. Frankly, the bird has better paperwork than most of us.
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- Exotic bird fights passengers at Chicago airport (this story)
From the archive: everything BBN aired on Wednesday, October 21, 2026 · the Weird News archive · all months


Photo: U.S. Department of State · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN
Photo: Matthew Binebrink · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Scott Andrews, Canon · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN
Photo: Coolcaesar · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN
Photo: Official SpaceX Photos · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN
Photo: שי אפשטיין (Shai Epstein) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Lori Mazzuca, Lori Mazzuca Fine Art Photography · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 2.5