Annual Audobon Day brings birds and drawings into full view

Least Bitterns illustration

Birds of a feather will flock together on Dec. 6 to celebrate Audubon Day, the University Library System’s annual chance to show it is proud as a peacock to be home to one of the rare full copies of John James Audubon’s “Birds of America.”

(OK, that’s enough clichés for one story)

This year’s Audubon Day on Dec. 6 will feature a talk by Karen Park, assistant professor of Linguistics at Pitt, on “Words for Birds: Intersections of Language & Nature.” Are roosters cocky? And did ravens give us ravenous? Cuckoos might just be the original cuckolds. This talk — from 10 to 11 a.m. Dec. 6 at the Hillman Library’s Digital Scholarship Commons, G-49 — explores questions of meaning, metaphor, language origin and linguistic diversity within the context of words the birds have given us.

After the talk, visitors can meet live birds from the National Aviary from 11 a.m. to noon in the Digital Scholarship Commons.

The original prints from Audubon's “Birds of America” will be on display from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in G-20 Archives & Special Collections, Hillman Library.

— Susan Jones