Hi there! I am new to the group and from Canada. I’m a real novice to bird watching and in the past year have been entertaining myself, my husband and a few of our four cats giving us all Bird TV. We all love it and get pretty excited when a new bird shows up to be identified.
Unfortunately my husband was the one who experienced what I know to be nature’s way but still horrifying when you’re the one to witness it for the first time, first hand.
He said he had been quietly reading in our tiny backyard when things got quiet. A magpie had been hanging around for part of the day and had been in and out of our rather large poplar tree. Crows were also heard off and on around our area. The magpie returned and as my husband looked up to see it, a crow suddenly flew straight at the magpie and speared it in the chest. My husband was horrified and told me that all he could hear for the next minute or so was the awful painful last cries of the magpie.
My husband came in to tell me what he had just witnessed and I, being the more “but it’s nature, hon” was glad I had not heard it or seen it. When he went out shortly thereafter, there was no sign of either the crow or magpie. No body left for us at the base of the tree. It can only be assumed that the crow took off with the magpie to eat it later.
The only thing I ever witnessed was a crow who had caught a young hare and decided I needed to have a good view of it in my yard, three feet from my window. Nothing was left of it later. Just the fluff.
None of my friends have heard or seen crows attacking magpies so I was trying to research if this is common when I found this site and forum. I hope this adds to your own research on the matter.