WELCOME TO THE CFZ BLOG NETWORK: COME AND JOIN THE FUN

Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Wednesday, January 17, 2018

FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES


What has Corinna's column of Fortean bird news got to do with cryptozoology? 

Well, everything, actually! 

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.

Siberian birds start to arrive in Nepal to avoid c...

THE LAST WEEK AT THE CFZ-USA BLOG

CFZ-USA


  • BIGFOOT AT LAKE TAHOE
  • NEW SPIDER DISCOVERED IN AFRICA
  • HEADLESS SKELETON OF SWAMPTON
  • CAN YOU GET A DOG-COW HYBRID?
  • HISTORICAL BIGFOOT CASES
  • RARE WHITE BLACK (NO MISTAKE) PARROT CAPTURED
  • STARLING STRATEGY
  • WHAT IS THE WATRA MAMA?
  • FAIRY CENSUS 2014
  • BIGFOOT: KINGS VALLEY ROAD
  • AMAZING ALIEN REPORT
  • STRANGE LEAPING FIGURE IN MEXICO
  • UNDERGROUND CHAMBERS ON MOON?
  • NEW SPECIES OF DINOSAUR
  • STRANGE CREATURE OF MOORE LAKE
  • A PRANKISH GOBLIN?
  • WEIRD SHARK CAPTURED
  • LION OF VALENCIA
  • PINKY - ST JOHN'S RIVER MONSTE
  • DID BIGFOOT WATCH FIREWORKS?
  • CONNECTICUT RIVER SERPENT
  • LOCH NESS NEWS ITEMS
  • PRESERVING THE PANGOLIN
  • BIGFOOT AT THE CAMP
  • DID SASQUATCH RETURN MISSING CHILD?
  • HOW DO YOU TELL A SPIDER FROM A PELICAN?
  • MYSTERY FISH CAPTURED VIETNAM
  • BAT-WINGED MAN
  • BIGFOOT CHASES ATVI
  • IS BIGFOOT REALLY OUT THERE?
  • SNOWY OWL IN WAUKEGAN HARBOR


  • SCIENCE REVEALS FISH FEEL PAIN
  • CRYPTOLINK: Stronsay beast

    A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. 


    TWO hundred and ten years ago, the scientific world was rocked by the news that a sea serpent had washed up off the coast of Orkney. The Stronsay Beast, as it would come to be known, was discovered in the aftermath of a winter storm in 1808.

    FRUSTRATION SETS IN FOR THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN

    The Gonzo Daily: Wednesday
     
    This morning started earlier than either Graham or I would have wished, as I had a Doctor appointment in Bideford. It was inconclusive, but - after having a disturbing conversation with a friend over Yuletide - I told my doctor (honestly) how much I drink each week, and asked whether I was (as has been claimed on a number of occasions) an alcoholic. She replied that I was a fine figure of a man and that she actually recommended that I drink more. OK that never happened, but she confirmed what I have always thought, that although I drink a little more than is wise on occasion, I am not (and probably never have been) an alcoholic, and that these days I don't even count as a binge drinker per se.
     
    I left the surgery feeling rather pleased with myself.
     
    In the meantime, you really should check out this story:
     
    Images of religious icons have a well known habit of appearing on inanimate objects. My particular favourite was an image of Our Lord which appeared somewhere near the Mexican border thirty odd years ago. It turned out to be a poster of Willie Nelson that someone had whitewashed over by mistake. However this new story concerns a simulacrum of the Blessed Frank Zappa. Will he be beatified? One can only hope so.
     
    Forgive me for always banging on about our webTV show, but it matters a lot to me, and I would be grateful for as many people as possible to see it, and spread the tidings of it far and wide:
     
     
    And if you fancy supporting us on Patreon:
     
    But for now, here is the news:
     
    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY:  Soul Secret - What We...
    VISION OF THE BLESSED FRANK
    RICK WAKEMAN NEWS
    GARDENING CLUB REVIEW
    THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
     
    Gonzo Weekly #269
    THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE PROG MUSICIAN ISSUE
     
    We talk to Martin Springett of The Gardening Club about his friendship with legendary Narnia and Lord of the Rings llustrator Pauline Baynes, John reveals his latest reading, Jon takes a look at reverse racism and critiques Stephen Clarke 1980’s enthralling autobiography, and Alan provides his own listening post, plus first Hawkwind news of the year. Good ‘ere innit.
    Hail Eris!
     
    And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney AND Strange Fruit, AND Friday Night Progressive. We also have columns from all sorts of folk including Neil Nixon, Roy Weard, C J Stone, Mr Biffo and the irrepressible Corinna. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and southern dibblers who have blown a fuse (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who are not good at household electrics, but I got carried away with things that rhymed with OOOOS) than you can shake a stick at. And the best part is IT's ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!
     
    This issue features:
     
    Paul McCartney, Motorhead, Lemmy, Jack White, Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, Radiohead, Lana Del Rey, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Raymond Thomas, Nico, Mark John Hough (aka Buster Stiggs), Christopher Andrew Tsangarides, Edward Allan Clarke (aka "Fast" Eddie Clarke), Barbara Dickson, Jessica Lee Morgan, Rick Wakeman, Billion Dollar Babies, Tangerine Dream, Martin Springett, Alan Dearling, Alice Coltrane, Buffy Sainte-Marie, LCD Soundsystem, Binker and Moses, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kamaniu Silelis, Rasa Serra, Baba Zula, Kefaya, Eddy Grant, The Future Shape of Sound, Robert Plant, La Femme, Omar Souleyman, Pumarosa, Oumou Sangare, Tamikrest, Michael Chapman, Ehud Banai, Can, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, John Brodie-Good, Kev Rowland, 36 Crazyfists, The Walking Dead, Whitewater, With the Dead, Wobbler, Zud, Aosoth V, Fallout Frenzy, b.o.s.c.h., Hawkwind, Xtul, Stephen Clarke, Queen, Lemmy, David Bowie, 2PAC, Coldplay, Explosions in the Sky
     
    And the last few issues are:
     
    Issue 267-8 (Happy New Year)
    Issue 265-6 (The Who)
    Issue 264 (John McLaughlin)
    Issue 263 (The magic Band)
    Issue 262 (DikMik)
    Issue 261 (Leonard Cohen)
    Issue 260 (Amsterdam Squat Festie)
    Issue 259 (Out come thee Freaks)
    Issue 258 (The Devil's Jukebox)
    Issue 257 (Judge Smith)
    Issue 255/6 (John Lennon)
    Issue 254 (Mr Biffo)
    Issue 253 (Dana Gillespie)
    Issue 252 (Cropredy)
    Issue 251 (Scott Walker)
    Issue 250 (Jamms)
    Issue 249 (Bill Bruford)
    Issue 248 (The Selecter)
    Issue 247 (Don Airey)
    Issue 246 (Steve Hackett)
    Issue 244-5 (Summer Special)
     
     
    All issues from #70 can be downloaded at www.gonzoweekly.com if you prefer. If you have problems downloading, just email me and I will add you to the Gonzo Weekly dropbox. The first 69 issues are archived there as well. Information is power chaps, we have to share it!
     
    You can download the magazine in pdf form HERE:
     
    SPECIAL NOTICE: If you, too, want to unleash the power of your inner rock journalist, and want to join a rapidly growing band of likewise minded weirdos please email me at jon@eclipse.co.uk The more the merrier really.
     
    * 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: www.gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk
     
    * 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 58 who - together with a Jack Russell called Archie, an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two half grown kittens, one totally coincidentally named after one of the Manson Family, purely because she squeaks, 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 Archie and the Cats?

    BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



    Bigfoot in Texas!
    Chester Moore is one of the most widely recognized outdoors journalists in the United States. He has served as Executive Editor of Texas Fish & Game magazine as well as Outdoors Editor for the Port Arthur News and Orange Leader newspapers. He has sold stories and photographs to more than 100 ...

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Wednesday

    ON THIS DAY IN - 1562 - French Protestants were recognized under the Edict of St. Germain. 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Grass snake research begins in north Cumbria - via...
  • Sex between snow monkeys and sika deer may be 'new...
  • Scientists uncover patterns of elephant poaching i...
  • Some monkeys prone to isolation


  • AND TO WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK... (Music that may have some relevance to items also on this page, or may just reflect my mood on the day).