The view after the battle
April 29th, 2023
That is the location of this battle. It was a battle for sustenance and by extension — for power and domination and life itself. And the location is not random at all:
This is a remnant of the old pear tree in my garden. It was planted there 80 years ago by my grandfather and for 70 years it provided the sweet sticky sickly sweet pears for anyone to enjoy. Not only for humans — pears falling from the tree would crack and attract swarms of bees who would collect the sweet sticky sickly sweet pear juices to make sweet sticky sickly sweet honey. After the pear tree started to slowly die, most of the trunk was cut down with only a three-meter stump left over for new use — as a place to put walnuts or other nuts for local squirrels and birds to enjoy.
There were three parties in this battle — a big and resolute woodpecker, a big and cunning magpie, and several big but cowardly turtledoves. The woodpecker started after finding a walnut in a crack in the tree (where I had put it just minutes before) and began working on cracking it. The rhythmic sound of the knocks of the beak on the walnut shell attracted the magpie, who swooped down on the top of the tree stump. Several turtledoves arrived as well, taking strategic places on branches of a nearby birch tree, and were watching the proceedings. The magpie made a move on the woodpecker to chase him away from the half-cracked walnut. The woodpecker stood his ground but eventually flew away. The magpie wasn’t allowed to enjoy the nut because the turtledoves, in a swarm, went for it as well. After a lot of noise, the flapping of wings, and striking aggressive poses, all birds flew away to continue the violent argument in the sky. The woodpecker came back, smart as it was, and with a few well-placed knocks, broke the shell and enjoyed the nutritious nut inside. The magpie and turtledoves came back and, in unison, chased the woodpecker from the tree, but the battle was already over — and won by the hard work and cautiousness of the woodpecker. The other birds, after a few furtive looks, flew away as well. What was left was only a cracked and empty walnut shell in the body of the stump of the pear tree.
