Flamingos aren’t an expected sight in Texas, US, but thanks to one animal’s aspirations, residents here sometimes catch a glimpse of the pink plumage of 492, a flamingo who escaped from a zoo 17 years ago. The bird has been on the lam since 2005 when 492 (as it was numbered on its leg band) and a pal skipped out of the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas.

The escape, while successful, wasn’t exactly what you’d call a sophisticated heist. Unlike the human-remote-controlling crimes of Wallace and Gromit’s Feathers McGraw, 492 and their accomplice quite simply flew out of the zoo after keepers forgot to trim their feathers.

Birds’ flight is highly dependent on the health and volume of their plumage. While young birds can have their wings “clipped” as a painless procedure, it’s not so easy for adult birds.

Instead of putting 492 and their flock through the pain of clipping, the zoo decided to simply snip a few feathers here and there to render the flying birds flightless and prevent unplanned escapes.

In the case of 492, it seems the gap between “haircuts” went a little too long as the bird took to the skies and got the heck outta' dodge. There have been several sightings over the 17 years since the flamingos escaped, most recently in Edna, Texas.

Flamingos aren’t common here but a similarly pinkish bird, the roseate spoonbill, is. Machinist and fishing guide David Foreman has long been highlighting this distinction to visitors who wrongly think they’ve spotted a flamingo.

That was, until 10 March, the NYTimes reports, when he took a boat into Port Lavaca. There, on a small stretch of sand, 492 or “Pink Floyd” as it’s come to be known by Texas Parks and Wildlife could be seen in all its long-legged glory.

Spoonbill spiel ruined; Foreman has taken the contradiction in good humor.

“It’s almost like nature’s way of putting me in my place,” he said. “Mr. Knows-Everything thinks there’s no flamingos in Texas? Have a look at this.”

The escapee flamingo originally hails from Tanzania where they were brought over back in 2004. While Texas isn’t a place anyone ever expected a flamingo to take up residence, it seems this most recent sighting goes to show that 492 is doing just fine.

Zoo escapes like this do happen, but unfortunately, not all fugitives fare so well like Gladys the runaway Eurasian eagle-owl who may have taken out a few pets during her time on the run…