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...

Search This Blog

WATCH OUR WEEKLY WEBtv SHOW

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON
Click on this logo to find out more about helping CFZtv and getting some smashing rewards...

SIGN UP FOR OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER



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...




Tuesday, May 17, 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.



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 are publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. 

The worldwide mystery cat phenomenon (or group of phenomena, if we are to be more accurate) is not JUST about cryptozoology. At its most basic level it is about the relationship between our species and various species of larger cat. That is why sometimes you will read stories here that appear to have nothing to do with cryptozoology but have everything to do with human/big cat interaction. As committed Forteans, we believe that until we understand the nature of these interactions, we have no hope of understanding the truth that we are seeking.

  • VIDEO: What happens when you turn your back on big...
  • NEWSLINK: Russia built a critical wildlife corrido...
  • BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



    Ron Morehead: Coast To Coast AM Sounds of Bigfoot (Video)
    Appearing with Connie Willis for the full program, Ron Morehead, adventurer, author and Bigfoot expert, will discuss how he witnessed, recorded, and ...

    The Celebrities Of The Ohio Bigfoot Conference
    Check out footage of some of these big name bigfooters at the Ohio Bigfoot Conference. Bet you wish you could have been there now, don't you?

    Ohio Bigfoot Conference 2016 Willow Creek Q & A with Bobcat Goldthwait
    Well, the 2016 Ohio Bigfoot Conference has come and gone, and from the looks of all the pictures and videos I've been seeing, it was a grand odd ...

    Bigfoot Sightings In Camp Alexo
    The Beyond Creepy youtube channel talks about the bigfoot sightings and encounters that have taken place at Camp Alexo in Alberta, Canada.

    Two Possible Bigfoot Peeking From Behind Trees Captured
    There's no story behind this. The only description is the title, which claims both of these objects are bigfoot peeking around from behind trees.

    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS ENCOURAGING


    I have been working - on and off - for a couple of years on a book written by author Jane Cann with the ex-Head Teacher of the village school, about the men from the village who fought in the First World War. Most of the family names in the book are totally familiar to me because I went to school with their grandchildren. However, this isn't a state of affairs that would take place today. Yesterday I was chatting to my adopted nephew Max, (now in his early twenties) and he told me that on his recent visit to his hometown, all his schoolfriends had left. They went away to University and never returned.

    Now,much has been written about the scandal of higher education; the way that every young person leaving Uni is likely to be thirty grand in debt. But I had never thought of the fact that the now almost universal higher education brought in by Blair et al to massage youth unemployment figures is also doing more than a bit to break up long standing communities. I never did like that man!

    THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_17.html
    Crazy World of Arthur Brown - Belgium TV
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/crazy-world-of-arthur-brown-belgium-tv.html
    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Eric Burdon - Good Tim...
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/the-gonzo-track-of-day-eric-burdon-good.html
    Barbara Dickson - interview 2008
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/barbara-dickson-interview-2008.html
    Frank Zappa BBC Documentary 1993
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/frank-zappa-bbc-documentary-1993.html

    Gonzo Magazine #182
    http://www.gonzoweekly.com/


    Wally, Rick Wakeman, Goblin, Grateful Dead, KLF, Ve, Gerald Durrell, Bill Drummond, Canterbury Sans Frontières, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Dogwatch, That Legendary Wooden Lion, Hawkwind, and Yes fans had better look out! This issue is dedicated to Dave McMann who died this morning. Rest in peace you mad old bugger.

    Wally was/is one of those bands that really should have made it, but despite support from Bob Harris and Rick Wakeman, they didn’t. In this issue we talk to Stuart Rhodes, the author of a
    retrospective coffee table book about the band. John looks at how the world has changed in the past four decades, Alan reviews a book on American psychedelia, we talk to Ve, and discuss Bill Drummond, and Biffo makes fart jokes about American politicians.  It doesn’t get much better than this! And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit and Mack Maloney, Friday Night Progressive, and we send the presenter of Canterbury Sans Frontières to a desert island. We also have the latest installment of the saga of Xtul, and 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 ouyside 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:
    Gerald Durrell,  Arthur Lee, Love, Joe Bonamassa, Liz Lenten, Auburn, Ozzy and Sharon Obsourne, Sex Gang Children, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Isao Tomita, Peter Behrens, Joe Temperley, John Stabb, The Beatles, Osibisa, Billy Cobham, Wayne Kramer at the Pink Fairies, Al Stewart, The RAZ Band, The Flying Burrito Bros, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Rick Wakeman, Wally, Stuart Rhodes, Suspiria, Goblin, Alan Dearling, Ve, Roy Weard, John Brodie-Good, Mr Biffo, Matthew Watkins, Hawkwind, Xtul, Bill Drummond, The Who, Elvis, Genesis, Neil Nixon, Burzum, Les Batards du Nord
                                                                                      
    Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:

    Issue 181 (Beatles)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo181.html
    Issue 180 (Beltane)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo180.html
    Issue 179 (Gregg Kofi Brown)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo179.html
    Issue 178 (Viv Stanshall)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo177.html
    Issue 177 (David Gilmour)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo176.html
    Issue 176 (Joey Molland and The Raz Band)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo176.html
    Issue 175 (Larry Sanders)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo175.html
    Issue 174 (Keith Emerson)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo174.html
    Issue 173 (Pink Fairies action figures)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo173.html
    Issue 172 (4th Eden)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo172.html
    Issue 171 (Keith Levene)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo171.html
    Issue 170 (Wildman Fischer)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo170.html
    Issue 169 (Wildman Fischer)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo169.html
    Issue 168 (Wakeman/Bowie)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo168.html
    Issue 167 (Paul Kantner)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo167.html
    Issue 166 (Spirits Burning)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo166.html


    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:
    http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/

    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?

    CRYPTOLINK: Filmmakers complete shooting for Fouke Monster doc - via Jackie Tonks

    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. 



    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:
    From CFZ-USA:

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Tuesday

    ON THIS DAY IN - 1540 - Afghan chief Sher Khan defeated Mongul Emperor Humayun at Kanauj. 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Tuberculosis in mongoose driven by social communic...
  • Do you see what I see? Study shows development of ...
  • Did climate change kill off the Neanderthals?
  • What mountain gorillas reveal with their teeth
  • Mysterious South American mounds formed by earthwo...

  • Facts About the Endangered Species Act of 1973


  • 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)