ROCKPORT — On Wednesday, May 8, at 6 p.m., the Rockport Public Library will host Dr. Kay Etheridge for a presentation entitled “Beyond Audubon: Bird Images through the Centuries.” The narrated slideshow will explore how birds have been represented in a variety of ways in published images from the 16th century to the present.

Nearly three centuries before the publication of John James Audubon’s Birds of America, Ulisse Aldrovandi in Italy and Conrad Gessner in Switzerland were commissioning detailed images of birds for their groundbreaking animal encyclopedias. 

“The earliest printed images were created using woodcuts, and these were followed by engraved and etched copper plates, which could reproduce finer details,” says Etheridge, in a RPL news release. “Lithography, used by artist-ornithologist John James Audubon, was not in wide use until the 19th century. Before the advent of color printing, colored editions were painted by hand.”

Kay Etheridge is professor of Biology Emeritus at Gettysburg College. Her research includes studies on tropical bats, manatees, lizards, and salamanders. More recently, she has written about the interplay of natural history images and the history of biology.

Etheridge lives in Rockland and works with the Friends of the Maine Coastal Island Wildlife Refuge.

The Refuge Visitors Center at 9 Water Street in Rockland is hosting an exhibition of early bird images in their gallery through June 7. While Etheridge plans to bring large re-prints of some early bird images to the library talk, she hopes that the presentation will get people excited to visit the exhibit at The Refuge Visitors Center to view some of the original vintage bird images in person.