Teeny Tiny Tales #30
“A flash of harmless lightning, a mist of rainbow dyes, the burnished sunbeams brightening from flower to flower he flies.” – John Banister Tabb. 5.14.25 through 5.20.25
This is where I present my daily microfiction stories, usually based on the past week’s prompts from The Fiction Dealer. However, the Fiction Dealer has gone on vacation, so this week's stories are all about hummingbirds: Specifically Roberto and Roberta! 🧚♂️🧚♀️
Please note: Ruby throated hummingbirds are the only hummers I’ve ever seen in real life. The images I’ve chosen from Unsplash to illustrate my stories depict several different species. I basically chose attractive images that seemed to fit with the narrative. Please forgive me for being scientifically imprecise.
Teeny Tiny Tales #1 - Teeny Tiny Tales #2 - Teeny Tiny Tales #3 - Teeny Tiny Tales #4 - Teeny Tiny Tales #5 -Teeny Tiny Tales #6 - Teeny Tiny Tales #7 - Teeny Tiny Tales #8 - Teeny Tiny Tales #9 - Teeny Tiny Tales #10 - Teeny Tiny Tales #11 - Teeny Tiny Tales #12 - Teeny Tiny Tales #13 - Teeny Tiny Tales #14 - Teeny Tiny Tales #15 - Teeny Tiny Tales #16 - Teeny Tiny Tales #17 - Teeny Tiny Tales #18 - Teeny Tiny Tales #19 - Teeny Tiny Tales #20 - Teeny Tiny Tales #21 - Teeny Tiny Tales #22 - Teeny Tiny Tales #23 - Teeny Tiny Tales # 24 - Teeny Tiny Tales # 25 - Teeny Tiny Tales #26 - Teeny Tiny Tales #27 - Teeny Tiny Tales #28 - Teeny Tiny Tales #29
May 14, 2025
Microdosing - 100 mg of a Hummingbird
The Return of Roberto
Molly had been waiting impatiently since Roberto had flown off for Mexico, slogging through the dark, chilly days of October and November and the blustery freeze of December, January, and February. March arrived, but winter retained its icy grip. Even April brought betrayal, burying the emerging spring bulbs in snow. At last May arrived, but no Roberto.
Molly despaired until Hall shouted, “Roberto is here! He’s dancing in front of the security camera!”
So Molly dutifully made nectar and filled and hung the feeders. Then she and Hall sat back to watch the swooping, glittering show, as Molly smiled with joy.
Note: If you are lucky enough to live in an area where hummingbirds roam, and wish to feed them, there is no need to buy expensive, premade nectar. Just bring a four-to-one ratio of water-to-granulated sugar to a boil until the sugar is completely dissolved. Cool and serve to your new feathered friends!
May 15, 2025
Microdosing - 100 mg of More Hummingbirds
Roberto Needs a Little Help
One day, Hall noticed a tiny bundle of feathers lying in the dooryard. There lay poor Roberto, alive, but incapacitated by sticky cobwebs.
Hall gently carried him to Molly, who used a toothpick to tease away the spider’s silk from Roberto’s feathers. As the wings were freed, Hall felt Roberto’s whole body vibrating, faster and faster, finally rising majestically and zooming away.
Hall would never forget the magical feeling of a miniscule meteor launching off from his palm, a being of contradictions, both strong and delicate; fiercely independent, but - like all of us - needing a little help now and again.
May 16, 2025
Microdosing - 100 mg of Some More Hummingbirds
Roberto & Roberta
As soon as Roberto returned to New Hampshire, he reclaimed his territory, full of delicious flowers and seemingly bottomless nectar feeders.
But still, he felt incomplete, until the day he saw HER: There, at his favorite feeder, perched the most beautiful hen, Roberta. For Roberto, it was love at first sight!
He began his courtship dance, soaring high into the sky, and then, with a roar that even humans could hear, turning into a steep dive, free falling until he was mere inches from the ground, only to rise again, in an eternal “U” of desire. How could Roberta resist?
May 17, 2025
Microdosing - 100 mg of Even More Hummingbirds
Roberta in Waiting
Roberta knew it was time to start her family. She gathered bits of hay, mortaring them together with spiderweb, camouflaged the outside with lichens, and lined the inside with soft dandelion fluff, making a comfortable bed for her future chicks.
Soon the nest was finished. Roberta laid two tiny eggs and began the long wait of incubation, sitting on the eggs patiently, leaving for only minutes at a time to guzzle down a few drops of nectar.
Fourteen days later, her efforts were rewarded as the miniscule eggs hatched and Bobbie and Robby were born. As the feeding frenzy began…
May 18, 2025
Microdosing - 100 mg of More and More Hummingbirds!
Bringing up Babies
Bobbie and Robby were insatiable! Roberta foraged for hours, gathering nectar, pollen, insects, and spiders to carry home in her crop. Male hummers are absentee fathers, so Roberto was no help.
At birth, Bobbie and Robby were jellybean-sized. Roberta flew frantically, feeding them every twenty minutes. Within three days, they’d doubled in mass; their mass doubled again in five days, and yet again in eight. The bigger they grew, the hungrier they became. Poor Roberta was very busy! But by the time they were three weeks old, they were were fully fledged and ready for life on their own.
May 19, 2025
Microdosing - 100 mg of a Just a Few More Hummingbirds
Independence
Bobbie and Robby practiced fluttering their wings. After a week, they could only lift themselves, but gradually they remained airborne as long as they pleased.
They swooped and played, enjoying this new skill. Roberta fed them less each day, but demonstrated food sources. After a week, she left them - she needed to refuel for the long trip south.
Bobbie, having inherited her mother’s common sense, drank quietly at a feeder, as her brother fought fiercely with the other boys. But soon, the mothers and children were all on their way to Mexico. Roberto and the other fathers would soon follow.
May 20, 2025
Microdosing - 100 mg of… Can You Guess? 😉
Summer's End
Molly came outdoors less and less… and eventually not at all. Roberto checked the kitchen window, where he’d danced for nectar many times before, but she wasn’t there.
Finally, he noticed a new feeder. He peered through an adjacent window and saw Molly lying on a bed, with Hall beside her. Hall couldn’t see him, but Molly was looking at the outdoors. She was so thin and frail, but when she saw Roberto hovering before the window, she smiled. And then she was gone.
Roberto held her spirit with him always, as Molly shared his lightning flashes of hummingbird magic.
“Summer’s End” is based on a story I wrote back in March, “One Last Dance with Roberto,” but written from Roberto’s point of view. Click on the link below if you would like to read the story from Hall’s perspective.
💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
Wee speck of feathers
Flies faster than quicksilver
Acrobat beauty.
Chris J. Franklin's House of Haiku Prompt: Flight. May 14, 2025.
Jeannine: Your photography and ability to identify and nurture individuals among hummingbirds are WONDROUS.
Reading these tales, they are so life affirming and beautiful and evince more truth, beauty and natural justice than comes from the species of "Rational, Mortal Bipeds" (Aristotle's definition of a human) in Washington, DC.
Your friends in rural New Hampshire are a parable for how humanity should live.
Thanks , Jeannine!
Had not thought about high feeder . Thanks for the idea.
We have a seed feeder and he has been happy with that until this year. We also have a creek for water,but he must have acquired a sweet tooth.
I do have wonderful memories of hu.mers when I lived in Georgia and the biggest worry there was ants.
Oh well ,I have flowers all around for them now !