What type of birds of prey could conceivably prey on an adult human? I’m sure that a big eagle could take a person by surprise in a swooping attack, and likely pierce a skull with its talons. What about hawks and owls? What is the smallest bird of prey that could pull off a fatal attack?
Don’t need answer fast…
If a person chose to fight the eagle and did not panic the human should always easily win with some damage. It would take a perfect shot at the base of the brain for an eagle to take down a human in one shot. I don’t believe they could pierce the skull of any healthy adult.
Fake answer: a Roc Roc (mythology) - Wikipedia
Real answer: None
The largest eagle in the world, the Harpy Eagle, feeds on prey significantly smaller than humans: monkeys, sloths, possums, squirrels, etc.
It is in no way large enough to take an adult human as prey, and no eagle known is large enough to do that.
As for the smallest bird of prey that is big enough to conceivably kill a human in some sort of surprise attack - we’ll need to know - suicide attack? Or does the bird want to live?
Well, conceivably, a Jay or something could peck a hole in an person’s jugular vein. Even a hummingbird could conceivably distract a person into a fatal fall.
But against a healthy, aware adult human, there aren’t any flying birds that have much of a chance of doing anything other than some scratches and gouges.
Interesting! I thought that a big eagle’s talons could probably rip through a human skull pretty easily. So, that isn’t really the case?
Nope. Most raptors rely on their body weight and speed to take down large prey. A beak could certainly do some serious damage to your soft tissues but an eagle just wouldn’t attack you. You’re much too big to carry off. The largest eagles weigh about 20 pounds.
No, not at all. A Harpy’s feet are roughly the size and spread of a human hand. Imagine you were wearing gloves with talons the size of a harpy’s. You probably couldn’t exert enough force to put them through a skull.
Oh, I realize that a normal-size adult human wouldn’t be carried off. Just maybe delicious bits and pieces, after the kill.
Diving at full force, a large bird of prey might kill a human, but it would have to be a very lucky hit. Offhand, I am unaware of any adult human being killed by an eagle or hawk attack.
I met a volunteer worker at TriState Bird Rescue whose arms were severely scarred. He described how rather than waiting for a second volunteer, he went ahead and medicated a bald eagle solo.
The bird got a foot free for a split second and sunk its talons into his arm. Attempting to free himself and in horrible pain, also slick with blood, the bird repeatedly re-grasped his arms. He eventually got free and called an ambulance, but he looks like he was in a fight with a chainsaw wielding maniac.
I asked why he didn’t immediately break the bird’s neck (it’s what I woulda done) and he just looked at me, aghast.
People that handle animals will rarely harm an animal too avoid injury. Life or death or serious injury might be another story.
I once saw a seagull that was hurt in a parking lot and went a pet shop to see if the owner could help me with the bird . We didn’t have any luck so the guy called a vet office and when the owner of the pet shop got off the phone he said that we need to be careful b/c some guy tried to help a seagull and the bird got him right in his jugular vein and he had to be rush to ER ! We left the bird alone . So a big enough bird could kill a person with one bite if it’s the right place . Birds have been know to attack people on their head if happen to get too close to their nest . A bird was attacking people on their head when they pass the tree , it got to be so bad my city had to block off around the tree so people couldn’t get too close to it. People in a nursing were sitting out waiting for the bird to attack someone !
Any bird can peck at your fingers to make you lose your grip on a ledge. So, there’s that. 
The moa bird was huge (almost 12’ tall!) and yet was preyed on by the Haast’s eagle. The Maori had wiped out the moa population by the 1400s, and the Haast’s Eagles went extinct as well as a result. But I wouldn’t doubt an eagle that could kill a 12’ bird could kill a human. Maori legends tell of the eagles killing humans after all.
You’ll notice that anyone who does falconry wears a special glove like this. It’s because these birds really do a number on people’s arms without even trying. Their talons are long and pointed and adapted to pierce, their feet adapted to grab and hold on very tightly. I’ve read about adaptations to the muscles and tendons that make a birds grip maybe not especially powerful, but able to really hold on and be very difficult to break. So yes, I’d imagine trying to pull an eagle off your arm would be like trying to rip a barbed hook out of your skin by sheer force… likely to do more damage than just leaving it there and carefully extracting it. Even if he did want to kill the bird instead of fight with it, the guy was probably surprised and flustered at how hard it was to get the bird off his arm and the whole experience in general; not too many people in the world get to experience that kind of thing.
Still though, the ability to do a lot of cosmetic damage (especially to a panicked “victim”) doesn’t mean the bird has any real potential to kill a person. Red tailed hawks are well known to swoop at and occasionally make contact with people’s heads while defending their nests; I’ve had it done to me and while they definitely do get their point across, they very seldom do any damage. Most are even pretty easy to scare off; you just turn towards them and they’ll stay back a good 10 feet… they know they’re very likely to get killed or hurt if they attack a human (or anything much bigger than a cat) face on.
A secretarybird might be able to end you, if you were already down and unable to fight back.
10 birds most likely to kill you ! the seagull is on the list
I believe it. A seagull once tried to kill me, true story. As part of my job decades ago as a military contractor I would clean moss off of roofs. I was on a flat gravel roof with a garden rake and a seagull kept dive-bombing me. I eventually tried to scare it off by swinging the rake at it as it flew at me but it was fearless. I finally gave up and left. There must have been a nearby nest it was defending.
My supervisor later asked my why he had reports of a crazy person trying to kill a bird up on a 50’ roof and I had to explain myself. At the time it wasn’t funny.
But yeah, that freaking seagull could conceivably have knocked me off the roof and killed me if he timed it right.
Not really a raptor, but cassowaries have killed.
The story of the death of Aeschylus isn’t quite what this thread is about, not exactly an attack, but still caused by an eagle:
" Aeschylus, the great Athenian author of tragedies. Valerius Maximus wrote that he was killed by a tortoise dropped by an eagle that had mistaken his bald head for a rock suitable for shattering the shell of the reptile. Pliny, in his Naturalis Historiæ, adds that Aeschylus had been staying outdoors to avert a prophecy that he would be killed by a falling object"
From the Wikipedia article, “List of unusual deaths”
Eagles and falcon never swoop down and attack anything which is way larger than their flight carrying capacity, their flight capacity is very high, but still its a mere 20kg approx max.
There is no point for eagles to swoop down and attack you unless you’re carrying raw flesh on your head 
They surely will try to snatch it from your head.
