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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Monday, February 25, 2013

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.



THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN PUTS HIS HEAD IN THE SAND

I am rather enjoying myself this morning. Having found that even a modicum of exercise seems to have good effects on my blood sugar, I went out for a brisk (or as brisk as I can manage) amble around the village before I started work on the blogs. While I was out I watched the rooks starting work on this year's nests, and came back to listen to the new album by Richard Thompson, which is really something. What a nice way to start the working week.
 
Today's Gonzo Track of the Day is from Helen McCookerybook (doing a surprising cover version)
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-gonzo-track-of-day-helen.html
 
Our daily visit to Thom the World Poet, who is celebrating George Harrison's birthday
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_25.html
 
EXCLUSIVE: New music from Judy Dyble; a sneak preview of her NEXT album. And golly, it is good
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/exclusive-judy-dyble-sisterhood-of.html
 
 
 
Ron Wood suggests that the Rolling Stones may be headlining Glastonbury
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/link-ronnie-wood-stones-might-headline.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 (and several others) is an old hippy of 53 who - together with his orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) 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 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:

LINK: Loch Ness monster hunt continues 80 years on


Loch Ness researcher Adrian Shine. Picture: Jane Barlow
Loch Ness researcher Adrian Shine. Picture: Jane Barlow
The legend of the loch may be 80 years old, but this unseen octogenarian still has a monster following, as Peter Ross discovers
‘DO NOT dally! Do not dally!” Adrian Shine – naturalist, force of nature and erstwhile monster hunter – is leading the way through the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre, which he designed, and which is home to some of the “toys” he has used in 40 years of exploring this and other lochs, including a tiny home-made submarine. He is a tall man with a hawkish profile and great white beard, striding the darkened corridors in a three-piece tweed suit and tartan tie, his mellifluous voice sounding in the murk. It is like being led around the chocolate factory by Willy Wonka, or by the Doctor showing off his Tardis.

TODAY'S BIG CAT NEWS

The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper-column inches than any other cryptozoological subject. There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived by us in some way, so we should have a go at publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. In September 2012 Emma Osborne decided that the Mystery Cat Study Group really deserved a blog of its own within the CFZ Blog Network.



photographed in East Peoria - Lo...

DALE DRINNON: Bigfoot, Loch Ness monster, Benny's Blogs

New at the Frontiers of Zoology:

WALLY THE COMEDY RHINOCEROS: Yesterday's News Today

Oll is having computer problems, so for the next few days Yesterday's News Today will be done by Wally the Comedy Rhinoceros. He is a stand up comedian of some renown. Here is one of his rhino-related jokes.

Who's there? 
Rhino. 
Rhino who? 
Rhino you are in, now open up!

Ha Ha that was funny. Ha. Now for the news...




  • Chemicals linked to problems with otters' penis bo...
  • Nineteen Baby Siamese Crocodiles Released in Lao P...
  • Bumblebees sense flowers' electric fields
  • Raw Meat Diet May Not Be Enough for Cats (or Tiger...
  • Fish removed from Bath canal for lock repairs
  • Weather radar catches massive bug swarm - via Tony...
  • Amphibian Study Shows How Biodiversity Can Protect...
  • Monster Goldfish Found in Lake Tahoe


  • And here is film of a slow loris eating a rice ball...