No. 492 Is Still on the Run 17 Years Later

On a windy day in 2005, No. 492 made its escape.

The workers at the zoo forgot to clip the African Flamingo's wings, a painless bit of maintenance that keeps the beloved birds from flying away into the dangerous world outside.

The zoo was unable to retrieve the bird before it flew away from Kansas, facing long odds for survival in a region of the country with no other Flamingos and few environments suited for its needs.

When he and a friend set out on a boat in Port Lavaca, Texas, in March, David didn't know anything.

His customers often mistake the pink birds for the small roseate spoonbills that are common in the Gulf Coast. He patiently explained to them that there are no Flamingos in Texas. Hundreds of people have been told this by him.

He couldn't believe his eyes. There was a bird standing on one leg. He used his phone's camera to zoom in as far as he could.

My eyes told me that it was what it was, but my brain told me that it was not a bird.

He thought he would have to update his spiel.

It is almost like nature put me in my place. Have a look at it.

Texas wildlife officials said it was definitely No. 499. It was named because one of its legs has a tag with the number on it since it arrived at the zoo. The officials in Texas call it Pink Floyd.

The boaters weren't close enough to see the tag. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has seen it in the past, but Julie said it was spotted in the same area during the same time of year.

She said there was no reason to believe that it was any other bird.

Confirmation was given that No. 492 is still going strong even though it struck out on its own.

It would fit in a Pixar movie script.

The Kansas zoo had 40 flamingos arrive in 2003 and No. 492 was one of them. Scott Newland, the curator of birds at the zoo, said in an interview that most of the birds were around 3 years old.

He described feather clipping as painless, like getting a haircut, and it must be repeated each year as birds grow new feathers.

Staff members missed the signs that the bird needed to be clipped and it flew away to a drainage canal.

On Independence Day, the birds flew away from Wichita, No. 492 and No. 347 heading south and north, respectively.

No. 347 was never seen again, and probably didn't survive the winter. Texas has a shallow, salty wetlands, high temperatures year-round and plenty of food sources.

They haven't been seen together in years, but they were spotted together as early as 2006 and haven't been gone since.

Even though they are two different species, Mr. Newland said they would have been happy to see each other. They have stayed together because they are not supposed to be there.

Flamingos can live into their 40s in the wild. Flamingos are not considered game birds and are not considered a threat to humans.

Since it arrived in Texas, No. 492 has been spotted almost every year in the spring. It's not clear if Texas is part of a migration pattern that hasn't been discovered, or if the Flamingo has made Texas its permanent home.

The video was posted to his own Facebook andInstagram pages, and his friends told him how rare it was. He said it was definitely a moment to remember.

He said that a flamingo was in South Texas. Who would have thought?