Catherine "Birdie" Hurlbutt, pictured
in 1985, told a friend that "the only thing better than one bird is two
birds." She died Dec. 22. A memorial is planned for Saturday. (Denver
Post file)
For decades, Catherine "Birdie" Hurlbutt
was a familiar sight, steering her converted Checker Cab as she drove through
Denver to rescue injured birds. She died in her sleep on Dec. 22 at age 99.
Tall and lanky, with outsized spectacles and a
broad, toothy smile, she devoted her life to rescuing and rehabilitating wild
birds. Hurlbutt, who never married and shared her modest south Denver ranch
house with dozens of recuperating birds, was licensed to care for wild birds by
the federal and state divisions of wildlife.
She spent most of her childhood on a Shaffers Crossing
homestead acquired and then lost during the Great Depression by her father, a
music professor with more ambition than business acumen. She raised her first
bird, a chicken named Penny Precious, there.
She worked as a stenographer for the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation, where she kept a bird feeder near her office until she retired
in 1978 after 41 years.
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