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 05, 2010

RAPTOR RAPTURE RAMIFICATIONS

Yesterday morning I was not feeling so good, so I came downstairs late. Corinna and Prudence had already breakfasted and were taking their morning consitutional.


A few minutes later they walked in through the gate, paused a little, and then Corinna ushered Prudence in through my study door. In a stage whisper Corinna told me that there was a bird of prey in the garden, and it appeared to be stuck.


I grabbed a large net that happened to be on top of the printer, and - net in one hand, walking stick in the other- I followed Corinna into the garden.



It was obviously an escapee from captivity because it was wearing jesses, but it turned out not to be stuck at all. It flew off, giving me and my butterfly net a disdainful glance over its shoulder as it did so.


However, it left a dead pigeon - its half eaten breakfast - as a memento mori of its visit. And that, basically, was it.


I telephoned Kaye to make sure that Ross's bird had not escaped (it hadn't), sent Oliver out into the garden with my camera to document the evidence, and then sat down to write this story.



That is all!





RICHARD FREEMAN: Daemons of the Dreamtime #6

NINYA
These are men made of ice, with icicles for beards. They live in deep caverns beneath the desert. On winter evenings they emerge, and cause cold and frost to fall upon the land. As sunrise approaches they rush back to their caves before they can melt, and this rapid movement creates the icy winds of desert mornings. If ice is found out of season it means that the Ninya are angry. They can freeze lakes and rivers. The Ninya are the villains of Patricia Wrightson’s book The Ice is Coming.

REDDERS REPORTS FROM BOGGY DEPOT

Just over a week ago, myself and good friend – and co-author with me on Monsters of Texas – Ken Gerhard headed north to Oklahoma, where we were booked to lecture at the first (of hopefully many) Boggy Depot Bigfoot Conference. The brainchild of a man named Mike Hall, the gig was designed to raise funds for two very worthwhile programs: the Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Children’s Miracle Network.

We arrived in the town of Atoka around 6.00 p.m., checked into our lodgings, and then made our way to the Boggy Depot State Park, where the audience was due to be treated to two cult-classic, horror/monster movies of the 1970s: The Legend of Boggy Creek and The Creature from Black Lake. As we pulled up in the park, with our vehicle’s speakers thumping out a fine dose of Rob Zombie, I could already see that the audience was beginning to build up, and the rain, which had been pummeling the area for hours, was starting to lessen.

Read on

MORE ODDS AND SODS FROM CHAD ARMENT

Scientists study possible new seahorse species
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/01/3053719.htm?section=justin

South China: Netizens dispute if animal in photos is rare tiger
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90782/90872/7184027.html

Vermont: The Legend of the Albino Moose
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20101031/NEWS02/10310324/The-Legend-of-the-Albino-Moose

Minnesota: Camera catches big cat
http://www.twoharborsmn.com/event/article/id/21266/

Giant virus found in tiny predator
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/10/giant-virus-found-in-tiny-predator.ars

New Amazon Species: "Bluetooth" Tarantula, Electric Fish
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/photogalleries/101027-amazon-species-wwf-bluetooth-tarantula-science-rainforest-pictures/

OLL LEWIS: Another elusive creature from the Garo Hills

Whilst waiting for news from the India expedition,
Oliver takes a look at another elusive creature from the Garo Hills.


OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 2004 Fred Dibnah died. He liked steam power a lot and got very enthusiastic about it. Dibnah's documentaries about steam power and the industrial revolution helped to re-popularise it among a generation that had mostly forgotten about steam power and was perfectly happy to see irreplaceable relics of Britain's industrial past scrapped or demolished.
And now, the news:

Boa Constrictors Can Have Babies Without Mating, N...
Rats targeted in mass poisoning to save endangered...
Polar bears can't eat geese into extinction
Plastic debris 'killing Adriatic loggerhead turtle...
Man Buys Extinct Tasmanian Tiger Pelt for $5 (via ...
Drongos mimic alarm calls to get a free lunch

Because meerkats are mentioned in the drongo story it gives me an excuse to post one of my favourite viral things:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKsSOEto3B0