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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Friday, November 18, 2011

KARL SHUKER: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE PURPLE MACAW?

Famed for their gaudy plumage, macaws come in many colours, but purple has never been one of them – or has it?

The genus Anodorhynchus – the so-called blue macaws - contains three present-day species (though one of them, the glaucous macaw, may have lately become extinct). Interestingly, in terms of plumage colouration, this genus's trio can be arranged in a very neat gradation, beginning with, as its name indicates, the intense hyacinth-blue shade of the hyacinth (or hyacinthine) macaw A. hyacinthinus, then moving subtly into the slightly more turquoise-blue hues of Lear's macaw A. leari, which then transforms further, yielding a paler, turquoise-green shade, in the aptly-named glaucous macaw A. glaucus.

Read on...

LEE FALLOWS INTERVIEWS JON AT UNCON

ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

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

From Crypto Squad USA:
From Nick Redfern's "There's Something in the Woods...":
From CFZ Australia:
From CFZ Canada:

RSPB: Using Google Earth to plot Peregrine persecution

New research by the RSPB and the Northern England Raptor Forum has revealed the apparent extent of persecution of Peregrine Falcons that attempt to nest on England's grouse moors. The paper — "Linking nest histories, remotely sensed land data and wildlife crime records to explore the impact of grouse moor management on peregrine falcon populations" — is published in the international scientific journal Biological Conservation. The study used Google Earth to map the characteristic 'strip burning' that is typical of moorland managed for intensive grouse shooting. This map was then combined with nearly three decades of nest monitoring information that had been collected by teams of dedicated volunteer monitors from raptor groups across the north of England. Comparisons of the fortunes of Peregrine Falcons breeding on grouse moors with those breeding in other habitats in northern England revealed that breeding success for birds on grouse moors was half that of birds in other habitats. Only a third of nests on grouse moors produced young.

Read on...

LYNX SIGHTING: NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

I was walking near the new leisure centre in Desborough, Northamptonshire, when I saw what I at first thought was a dog. It was sniffing around and had its back to me, but when I got closer it turned round, looked straight at me, and ran off into the woods. It was brown with black markings, with little tufts of hair at the top of its ears, and was a bit taller than a Staffordshire bull terrier. It was, however, a lot longer than a dog, and was definitely a large cat. I went home and told my girlfriend and her friend what I had seen, and her friend ‘Googled’ lynx sightings in Northamptonshire and came across the website with your contact details. I am only 12 miles away from the last sighting and I still can’t believe what I’ve seen. I was glad to notice that I am not the only one to have witnessed it.

Christian

HAUNTED SKIES: International Herald Tribune 30.7.96.


OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 1990 the popular music group Milli Vanilli were stripped of their Grammy award after it was revealed they didn’t actually sing on their songs and they just mimed to vocals by session musicians.

And now the news:

Shrimp has 'silk-spinning skills'
Was it homophobic to separate the Toronto zoo's 'g...
The octopus' 'human-like' intelligence
Huge potentially inhabited water lake found on Jup...
'Lazy' pigeons flock to ride Stockholm metro
Amazing Neptune’s Cup Sponge Rediscovered in Singa...

And here’s the moment the game was up for Milli Vanilli:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udS5qBrBFqE