Audubon Day, a free exhibition of John James Audubon's colorful prints of birds, will take place Friday on the University of Pittsburgh campus in Oakland.

A total of 24 Audubon prints will be exhibited in Room 363 of Hillman Library’s Special Collections Reading Room from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Among them will be an 1824 print of the passenger pigeon, which once numbered in the billions, making it the nation’s most abundant bird. The last surviving passenger pigeon died in captivity 100 years ago at the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens.

Chris Kubiak, development coordinator of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, will give a talk about the passenger pigeon from 10 to 11 a.m. on Friday, also at Hillman Library. Mr. Kubiak will outline the causes and consequences of the passenger pigeon's extinction and the controversial effort to revive the species through cloning.

Audubon’s four-volume set, “Birds of America,” was published between 1827 and 1838 and depicted life-sized birds in their natural environment.

For more information about Pitt’s annual Audubon Day, call 412-648-8199.

First Published: November 19, 2014, 5:06 p.m.