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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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Unlike some of our competitors we are not going to try and blackmail you into donating by saying that we won't continue if you don't. That would just be vulgar, but our lives, and those of the animals which we look after, would be a damn sight easier if we receive more donations to our fighting fund. Donate via Paypal today...




Wednesday, June 29, 2016

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.



  • Iconic wild birds once close to extinction make as...
  • Monogamous West Norfolk bird wins a second partner...
  • Two grey plover birds tracked leaving Adelaide and...

  • Great Scot, it’s a great knot! - Twitchers flock t...


  • CRYPTOLINK - Ukrainian Farmer claims he caught Chupacabra

    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. 

    Is this the Ukrainian chupacabra? Farmer claims he caught legendary blood-sucking beast in his barn

  • Creature reported to have been hunted by a pitchfork-wielding farmer.
  • Man, known as Ivan, killed chupacraba after it stalked into his barn.
  • Vets are now studying the creature but cannot identify what it is.


  • Read more: LINK


    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS STILL AWAY

    The Gonzo Daily - Wednesday

     
    I think today is the day the wanderers return to CFZ Towers, although I haven't had any confirmation of that, just yet. It's fairly cold and wet in Devon, and there's roadwork closures on one of our main roads, but that's hardly going to come as a surprise to them.
     
    And now, as things are running a bit late, here, let's get to today's site updates:
     
    Captain Beefheart on Late Night with David Letterman (1983)
    The Animals interview 1983 - Eric Burdon, Chas Chandler, Alan Price
    NBC - Frank Zappa Interview Near Death
    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Can't Get Enough - Bad Company
    THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
     
    --
     
    And now I am on the want again. It is time, once again, for me to remind you all about this year's Weird Weekend featuring our very own Steve Ignorant, sponsored by our very own Erik Norlander, compèred by me and the return of  Nuneaton's Mr Entertainment, Barry Tadcaster with his pal Orang Pendek, and featuring a whole cornucopia of high strangeness and cerebral silliness. It would make me very happy if I could sell some more tickets..
     
    find out all about the Weird Weekend
    buy tickets to the Weird Weekend:
     
     
    Gonzo Magazine #187-8
     
    Last weekend and this coming one is covered by the bumper issue - The Gonzo Summer Special with a mixture of old and new stuff for your delight and amazement! We interview Bridget Wishart and Ian Jones from Karnataka, Alan goes to see Neil Young, Erik Norlander's new album, John B-G goes on a pilgrimage to the West Coast of America, Doug
    eulogises Security Project, Orrin talks about German psychedelic folk, we send the legendary John Hughes to a desert island, Jon reviews a book by and about Frederick Forsyth and burbles on about British comics, we interview Karnataka about a very special concert, while Corinna talks about shopping with mother. Just another day chez Gonzo.
     
    And there  are radio shows from Strange Fruit, and Mack Maloney, and Friday Night Progressive. We also have columns from all sorts of folk including Roy Weard, Mr Biffo, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and pademelons outside zoos(OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have escaped from captivity, 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:
    Karnataka, Gorillaz, Erik Norlander, Lana Lane, Ringo Starr, All-Starrs,Cliff Richard, Morrissey, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour,Helen Joanne "Jo" Cox, Henry Campbell Liken McCullough, Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman, Robert Allen "Bobby" Curtola, CM, Tom Leppard, Rick Wakeman, Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come, Brand X, Third Ear Band, Captain Beefheart, Jim Jones, Gram Parsons, Mick Abrahams, Barbara Dickson, Bridget Wishart, Spirits Burning, Peter Gabriel, Alan Dearling, Neil Young, John Brodie-Good, Paul Kantner, The Jungle Book, Roy Weard, Orrin Hare, Krautfolk, Mr Biffo, Xtul, Hawkwind, John Hughes,Frederick Forsyth, Marc Bolan, Elvis, Mitch Mitchell, Robert Johnson, Ginger Spice, Neil Nixon, Robert Calvert
                                                                                       
    Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
     
    Issue 186 (Beatles)
    Issue 185 (Judge Smith)
    Issue 184 (Mick Abrahams)
    Issue 183 (Daevid Allen)
    Issue 182 (Wally)
    Issue 181 (Beatles)
    Issue 180 (Beltane)
    Issue 179 (Gregg Kofi Brown)
    Issue 178 (Viv Stanshall)
    Issue 177 (David Gilmour)
    Issue 176 (Joey Molland and The Raz Band)
    Issue 175 (Larry Sanders)
    Issue 174 (Keith Emerson)
    Issue 173 (Pink Fairies action figures)
    Issue 172 (4th Eden)
    Issue 171 (Keith Levene)
    Issue 170 (Wildman Fischer)
    Issue 169 (Wildman Fischer)
    Issue 168 (Wakeman/Bowie)
    Issue 167 (Paul Kantner)
    Issue 166 (Spirits Burning)
     
    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 56 who - together with an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two small 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 the infantile orange cat, and the adventurous kittens?

    BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF












    If Bigfoot Were Real.
    short column in Scientific American, by Darren Naish. He's unconvinced, and finds the evidence lacking. "We have the Bigfoot vocalizations, we have the Bigfoot tracks, we have the Bigfoot DNA, right? Well…"

    I've seen so many fake pictures of Bigfoot that looked real, that if I saw a real picture of Bigfoot I would think it was fake.


    NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Wednesday

    ON THIS DAY IN 2007 - The first generation Apple iPhone went on sale...

    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk:



  • Mammals almost wiped out with the dinosaurs
  • Someone has just found a sea monster off Antarctic...
  • How early mammals evolved night vision to avoid predators
  • New lizard found in Dominican Republic