Magpie attack?

[Spardo]

I happened to look out of our full length double glazed front door yesterday and saw a large bird heading straight for it at a rate of knots. It hit the glass with a bang, but might have realised at the last minute and pulled up a little because it hit with its chest rather than beak which would no doubt have resulted in a broken neck.

It rebounded off but did not fall and instead flew off out of the terrace and round in a great arc over the valley. For the first time I saw that it was not a pigeon but a Green Woodpecker and, pursuing it closely a similarly sized Magpie. Now I know that Magpies take small birds and chicks but do they pursue and indeed kill large birds in this fashion? The pair passed behind some trees so I do not know what the outcome was, I can only hope that the Woodie escaped.

[MAD87]

I didn't know they hunted other birds, I thought they just nicked stuff.
I remember in Winchester pheasants used to brain themselves on ours and neighbours' windows. Older son, then about 6, told someone I'd hung a dead peasant outside the back door.

[Doug]

Magpie's will take eggs and young chicks off the nest but never seen them hunt larger birds, not like jays which are terrible in hunting other feathered like.
At my first property here I watched jays waiting for wagtails eggs to hatch out then take the young, seen them here chasing turtle doves after taking their eggs.

[DaveW]

They are protecting their young. You can hear continual squawking when ever a threat is present, particularly cats who will needlessly kill anything in sight. Anything that flies close is also very much the enemy. A lucky adolescent Magpie was spotted by me drowning in my pool, it had gone for a drink and couldn't get out. Parent was in attendance and flew off when I pulled out the little idiot and set it free. It survived and returned to drink from the big bowl of water I put out, accompanied with parents and siblings.

[Spardo]

Somebody elsewhere said that Magpies were fiercely protective of their own young and perhaps this Woodpecker had accidentally come too close to their nest. In such a case they have been observed to chase other large birds including Pigeons. Knowing that they are very combative I wouldn't be surprised if they, together with others or alone, might take on predators like Buzzards. Crows certainly do.

Love them or loathe them I must admit I do enjoy watching them from my window visiting my pond, and I have never witnessed any apparent attack on another creature before this incident.

[Spectrum]

We have two large patio doors in our lounge they are opposite each other and unfortunately a few birds have flown into them, in 18 months only three definite fatality's young redstart, sparrow, and last week a young greater spotted woodpecker. We do get more but I pick them up and place under a bush in the shade, after a few minutes they fly off, probably with a headache