FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES (CFZ)

In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion it seems to us that, whereas the study of out of place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot or lake monsters, it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean zoologist to be interested in. So, after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo, Corinna has taken the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.

• Spoon-billed sandpipers threatened by trapping in ...
• The crab and the bird: lifting moratorium on horse...
• 2 leucistic blackbirds in Herefordshire
• A Second Rare Bird Arrives from Central America

DALE DRINNON: Bigfoot

New at the Frontiers of Zoology:

http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2013/01/bigfoot-evidence-jays-blog-bizzare.html

And I have made a special effort to add comments at the end of Jay's Blog. Jay has also asked me to do a guest blog for him, which I said shall have to come on Wednesday. I am going to be at the hospital again overnight and Tuesday but it's basically downhill all the way after that visit.

Best Wishes, Dale D.

I'M YER GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN

I was feeling somewhat less than sane yesterday, which may have coloured what I was watching on TV to a greater or lesser extent. However, I watched episode two of 'Blandings', which I thought was nowhere near as good as the first episode. Evelyn Waugh once wrote that to criticise Wodehouse was like "taking a spade to a souffle'. I would say much the same about tinkering with his plots. Treat the man with some respect for God's sake! The originals are exquisite, the TV series (despite early promise) doesn't live up to them, or at least last night's episode didn't. Later in the evening after Mother had gone to bed I sat down and watched '24 Hour Party People', which was much bleaker than I remember when I watched it with Richard ten years ago. This morning I feel like a cross between Tony Wilson and Lord Emsworth (with Prudence as the empress). David came over yesterday to discuss e-books, and progress is being made. Richard went home yesterday but will be back on Thursday. Graham is setting up interviews with Alan Davey and Michael Butterworth, and the orange cat has an infection, but according to Shosh it is nothing to worry about. Life is complicated today, and I still feel mad as a bagful of cheese.

Today's Gonzo Track of the Day is from the late Hugh Hopper
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-gonzo-track-of-day-hugh-hopper-1976.html

Another of our daily visits to the incomparable Thom the World Poet
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/01/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_21.html

Alan Davey is celebrating the 40th anniversary of Hawkwind's groundbreaking 'Space Ritual' album. This we have to see!
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/01/link-alan-davey-is-celebrating-space.html

From the archives a great review of Galahad a couple of years back
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/01/archive-galahad-live-review.html

A great piece of rock journalism about Jefferson Airplane
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-jefferson-airplane-defined-summer.html

The final section of our three-part interview with Don Falcone of 'Spirits Burning'
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/01/exclusive-don-falcone-of-spirits_21.html

*  The Gonzo Daily is a two-way process. If you have any news or want to write for us, please contact me at  jon@eclipse.co.uk. If you are an artist and want to showcase your work, or even just say hello please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk. Please copy, paste and spread the word about this magazine as widely as possible. We need people to read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is viable we shall be invading more traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun, spread the word, and maybe if we all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining. See you tomorrow...

*  The Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The same team also do a weekly newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this link: http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html

* We should probably mention here, that some of our posts are links to things we have found on the internet that we think are of interest. We are not responsible for spelling or factual errors in other people's websites. Honest guv!

*  Jon Downes, the editor of all these ventures is an old hippy of 53 who - together with his orange cat - puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon, which he shares with various fish and batrachians. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus... did we mention the orange cat?

ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

News and stories from the remoter fringes of the CFZ blogosphere...

From Nick Redfern's World of Whatever:

• Ancient Humans and a Doomed Bridge — Neanderthals and Shug Monkeys...
• Adam Davies on BoA — Interview with a cryptozoological explorer...
• Tales of the Chupacabras — Nick reminisces about his trips to Puerto Rico...
• Loch Ness and Giant Salamanders — An interesting new theory...

From CFZ Australia:

• Extinct wild Chinese elephants survived 7000 years longer — A Pleistocene species in the Holocene...
• Eastern bettong returns to mainland Australia — A rare marsupial (pictured above) is thriving near Canberra...

NOTICE: The Center for North American Herpetology (CNAH) is proud to announce the launch of a new open access, online journal

The Journal of North American Herpetology (JNAH). With an impressive cadre of Associate Editors from all herpetological disciplines, we are now officially soliciting authors for manuscripts and expect to publish the premiere issue by June 2013.

The Journal of North American Herpetology provides an open access online venue with the use of all modern digital technologies for peer-reviewed contributions of all aspects of North American herpetology within the geographic boundaries of the United States and Canada. Because of its digital nature JNAH should be able to incorporate relevant video and sound media as well as high resolution images into articles.

A brief and simple set of instructions to authors as well as a list of topic headings and Associate Editors can be viewed on the JNAH web page (JNAH.CNAH.org). Questions can be addressed to JNAH.editor@cnah.org. We look forward to your submissions.

Walter Meshaka Jr. and Dan Fogell

DOUG SHOOP'S PREHISTORIC BISON (CONTINUED)

Following on from yesterday's post...

Something in the back of my mind plus a little research made me suspect the purported age of this skull

may not have been accurate. So I wrote to the Minnesota Historical Society providing them with photos.

Two days later I received this reply from the head of Archaeology.

Still not bad news after all. And I just sold the skull to a school teacher who will continue to use it in education. Only now she can teach about this magnificent beast using real and accurate information.

“Thanks for sending the photos of the bison skull in your possession.  Based on these images, this does appear to be a specimen of Bison bison, the modern form of American bison, and not one of the larger extinct varieties.
 Estimating the age of this skull really isn't possible without some information about the context in which it was found.  Finds of bison bone are relatively common in Minnesota, and modern bison have been present in the state from at least 6000 years ago until the mid-19th century.  This specimen could potentially date to any time in that range.
 The Historical Society does not collect natural history specimens; that is, animal bone or similar items that have no verifiable connection to human activity.  Unless this bison skull was found in a context that indicates that it was, for instance, hunted and killed by humans, and you had evidence in hand to document that, this is not something that would be suitable for our collections.
 The Science Museum has a substantial collection of large mammal specimens.  You might check with them to see if they are interested in this skull.  But, again, without information about the context in which it was found, the research value is very limited.
 Thanks for your inquiry.
 Pat Emerson
Head of ArchaeologyMinnesota Historical Society”

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

Yesterday’s News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 1924 the comedian Benny Hill was born. Hill is perhaps best remembered for his modern fable of supernatural retribution “Ernie”.

And now the news:

Fishery owner suing Environment Agency after otter...

New Research Throws Doubt On Earlier 'Killer Walru...

Mouse burrowing 'in their genes'

New insights into anatomy of ancient tentacled cre...

New research reveals that more than 10% of Welsh l...

Cat Lost on Vacation Travels 190 Miles Home

Serial cow killers baffle French farmers

Bioluminescence: lighting up the natural world

A tale of terror set to music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e1xvyTdBZI