BABY BIRD LOVE

When one of her customers found a half-dead, baby blackbird near her home studio, Kitty Kruup’s Mrs Fix It instincts flew into action.

The Hobart Dolls Hospital founder and head physician ripped up some towels to make a little nest and set “Baby Bird” into a little cardboard box.

The rescued bird’s condition was similar to the teddy bear and doll “patients” she operates on five days a week.

“She was badly injured,” Kruup says. “A tiny little thing and blind in one eye.”

Kruup hand-fed Baby Bird mealworms, and when her strength improved she borrowed a cage and made her a fresh nest.

Before long Baby Bird was flying around her workroom and splashing around in a takeaway container of water. The customers loved it.

Her next mission was to learn how to dig for her dinner. So Kruup buried garden worms and mealworms in a soilfilled tray covered with sticks and leaves.

After she conquered hunting, her cage was placed outside, and before long another blackbird Kruup named “Boris” would regularly visit Baby Bird.

“I sat a tea towel on top of the cage and he would sit on that and look down at her.”

Since opening the cage door several months ago, Baby Bird and Boris have started to build a nest of their own in Kruup’s back garden.

“I love watching her dash around with a beak full of nesting material,” Kruup says.

“She sits on the fence and sings to me while I’m operating on the dolls. She’s free now but we still have that connection.

“And even though she’s a married woman now with a baby on the way, she’ll always be Baby Bird to me.

“After all, I am her mother.”