Pink Floyd Spotted In Texas After 17 Years

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Weird nature stories. A pretty hearty flamingo has survived many years and still seems to alive and kicking. It's got a mate that may have been blown there in a hurricane or some such but they are close enough to hang out together. no word on that guy for a few years.

On a stormy Independence Day in Wichita, Kansas, in 2005, flamingo No. 492 went rogue. The bird was spotted around 600 miles away Monday – nearly 17 years later – by fishing guide and angler David Foreman, according to the Texas Parks & Wildlife department.

One of 40 flamingos brought from Tanzania, Africa, to Kansas’ Sedgwick County Zoo in 2003, No. 492 arrived when it was 2 or 3 years old, according to Jennica King and Anne Heitman, the zoo’s director of strategic communications and curator of birds, respectively.

A couple of years later, on July 2, zookeepers went to clip the flamingos’ feathers, a “completely painless” process that’s similar to humans getting a haircut, Heitman said. During that process, a “big gust of wind came up,” and several birds that hadn’t yet had their feathers clipped were able to fly away, King said.

Birds replace their feathers anywhere from twice per year to every one or two years during a cycle called molting, and keepers cut the new feathers once they’re done growing, Heitman said. Feather clipping is a common and temporary form of flight restriction used not only by zoos, but also people who have pet birds and don’t want the birds to have their full flight potential. Most of the birds circled the zoo, then returned. But two – No. 492 and its companion, No. 347 – did not. They ended up in a grassy, marshy flood drainage area about 100 or 200 yards away from the zoo. The two flamingos spent a couple of days there, dodging and fleeing from zookeepers who frantically tried to get close enough to retrieve them.

A big thunderstorm hit July 4, sending the two determined flamingos on their way for good. No. 347 went north and was spotted once in Minnesota, then never again, King said.

But the South is where No. 492 has seemed to find its home, as it has been spotted every year for the past five years on the Gulf Coast of Texas, said Julie Hagan, social media specialist for the coastal fisheries division of Texas Parks & Wildlife. The department has nicknamed No. 492 “Pink Floyd.”

That's cool. I never knew they could live that long.

a reply to: chiefsmom

They seem so fragile I think it's amazing #492 has survived this long.

originally posted by: chiefsmom
That's cool. I never knew they could live that long.

According to the Planet Zoo video game, they can live up into their 50s and 60s. The species you are given in that game lives a good long time with appropriate care. Of course, the lifespan of an animal in captivity is different than it will be in the wild where it won't be fed and cared for to reach it's full span.

However, birds do live a lot longer than we think they will. Eagles are also long lived, and parrots have been known to outlast owners.