FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

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.

• Is no landscape safe? Open Spaces Society fights t...
•      New Zealand changes fishing rules to protect sea b...
•      Cuckoos return to UK

DESMANS ARE PROBABLY THE COOLEST EUROPEAN MAMMALS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19430321

DALE DRINNON: Lake monster sturgeon, bull pike, Frontiers of anthropology

New at the Frontiers of Anthropology:

http://frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com/2013/04/europes-dynamic-genetic-history-from.html

http://frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com/2013/04/piri-reis-atlantis-garden-of-eden-and.html

New at Frontiers of Zoology:

http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-sturgeon-species-of-champ-and-nessie.html

http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-bull-pike.html

Links current as of 6:30 PM local time and if there are to be any more postings, another update shall be sent out. The hour is getting late and there could very well be no further updates.

Best Wishes, Dale D.

MY COUSIN PENE SENT THIS IN

Hello Zooniverse!

Today we're very pleased to announce our latest project: Notes from Nature (http://www.notesfromnature.org) - through your efforts we can help scientists and researchers make better conservation decisions.

People have been collecting specimens from the natural world for centuries - minerals, plants, fungi and animals. Today, there are an estimated two billion specimens housed in natural history museums around the world! These biological collections document where species and populations exist now and where they existed decades and centuries before, so they hold irreplaceable information necessary for uncovering the patterns of changes in species distributions and ecosystem composition over time. Scientists use such data and information in order to address key environmental issues we are facing right now, such as the impacts of climate change and how diseases affect wildlife and humans.

We need you to help us transcribe that data and make it available for further use in biodiversity and conservation research.

Visit the new site now at http://www.notesfromnature.org

Thanks for all your help, and we hope to see you on our projects soon.

Arfon and the Zooniverse Team

PS - Find the new blog at http://blog.notesfromnature.org and follow @nfromn on Twitter

PPS Find us on Twitter @the_zooniverse (our projects are on Twitter too, for example: @galaxyzoo and @cyclonecenter)

Lair of the Beasts: A Monstrous Yearbook

Out right now is a brand new book published by Britain’s Center for Fortean Zoology, one of the very few full-time groups in the world that investigates such strange creatures as the Abominable Snowman, the Loch Ness Monster, Sasquatch, and the Chupacabras. Its title: The CFZ Yearbook 2013.

As well as publishing its own, high-quality, paperback books, the CFZ also embarks upon expeditions to various parts of the globe in search of all-things beastly and mysterious, and works closely with TV and the press on breaking stories. 

Each year, since 1996, the CFZ has published a book-length round-up of what went on in the organization during the previous year. And the 2013 edition – which highlights the CFZ’s activities in 2012, and much more too – has just been published. Edited by CFZ director Jonathan Downes and his wife, Corinna, the book is a first-class study of a wide range of cryptozoological phenomena.

So, what do you get for your money? Well, I’ll tell you. Irish author and cryptozoological expert, Ronan Coghlan, provides us with an A to Z-style paper – which runs to no less than 140 pages – that lists a wealth of strange creatures reported across the planet and the centuries.

The good thing about Coghlan’s contribution to the CFZ Yearbook is that it doesn’t focus on those alleged beasts that just about everyone has heard of, such as Mothman, Nessie, and Bigfoot. 

Read on...

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN REFLECTS

On sundays I always find the time

to do the Gonzo blogs in rhyme
I know my poetry's not good
but it scans and rhymes where I know it should

 

I know some readers are confused
but it keeps this journalist amused
and why? (you ask, I hear the sound)
its cos bad poetry makes the world go round

 

And first I'll tell ya (I think I'd better)
issue 23 of our groovy newsletter
devised and edited by me
has just gone out (click this link, you'll see)
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/04/gonzo-weekly-newsletter-23.html

 

Now something I should have said before
Daevid Allen is currently out on tour
now here presented to you from me
are some tour dates to put in you diary
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/04/daevid-allen-tour-dates-aprilmay-sunday.html

 

Yesterday Rob Ayling stood in awe
as the second favourite band from Apple Corps
who never did what they should have (in terms of sales)
were honoured by a town in Wales
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/04/rob-ayling-at-pete-ham-memorial-concert.html

 

Peter Banks' final tunes
will be released on album soon
by 'Days Between Stations' a damn fie group
so let's all have a celebratory WHOOOP
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/04/la-prog-duo-days-between-stations-to.html

 

Today's Gonzo Track of the Day
is 'Wipe Out', let's all shout HOORAY
Played by Merrell Fankhauser and Willie N
C'mon let's play it once again
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/04/gonzo-track-of-day-merrell-fankhauser.html

 

And finally it's poetry time
from a bard whose words are better than mine
but who is he? Think hard, you know it
it's Texas Thom our fine World Poet
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/04/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_28.html

 

Byeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

*  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 (and several others) is an old hippy of 53 who - together with his orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and his new orange kitten puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention the orange cats?

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

Yesterday’s News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 1948 Sir Terry Pratchett was born. Although his novels are parodies and satires at heart Pratchett has become the world's greatest living fantasy author, and in my opinion (sorry Tolkien fans) the greatest ever. Since being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's Pratchett has campaigned to raise awareness of the disease and funds to improve treatment of the disease and research into a possible cure. Another charitable project he has been involved in is the conservation of Orangutans.

And now the news:

Lizards Hatch From Their Eggs Prematurely To Escap...

An Embarrassment of Anoles - via Herp Digest

Discovering Species - Just a Click Away- The USGS ...

Norway says NO to pet reptile and amphibian trade

New Caledonia creates a huge shark sanctuary

Why Do Guppies Jump?

Boa Spotted Eating Endangered Iguana for First Tim...

'When in Rome': Monkeys Found to Conform to Social...

A trailer for the mini-series based on Terry Pratchett's best book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4VlX9cMEbw