At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them. The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is - we believe - the largest professional, scientific and full-time organisation in the world dedicated to cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals. Since 1992 the CFZ has carried out an unparalleled programme of research and investigation all over the world. Since 2009 we have been running the increasingly popular CFZ Blog Network, and although there has been an American branch of the CFZ for over ten years now, it is only now that it has a dedicated blog.
DID BALD EAGLE FLY ACROSS THE ATLANTIC?
The Bald Eagle is the national bird of the United States. But could one fly right across the Atlantic to Europe? Experts would think not. But it may have happened at least once.
In 1988 Pat O'Connell, wildlife ranger, was ranging about in Kerry, a county in the south-west of Ireland which faces the broad Atlantic, when he came upon a Bald Eagle, in a state of utter exhaustion. Pat had no doubt that the bird had propelled itself across the vasty deep. When news of this got out, the bird became a celebrity. It was given an Irish name Iolar which means eagle in the Irish language. (You pronounce it ullar). Once he had recovered, he was sent back to America, this time in a jet, being seen off by the Taoiseach (=prime minister).
There is some doubt that Iolar really flew across the Atlantic. He may have been in private ownership and set free in Ireland itself orperhaps in Britain, an island off the coast of Ireland. Pat O'Connell, however, had no doubt that the bird had made the whole 3000 mile crossing.
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