I've always wondered if that was a realistic way of taking a drone down, it seems the risk to the birds from the spinning propellers would be substantial.

Peregrine falcons hit their prey after a stoop (dive) of over 200MPH. They can handle it. Plus, you can train the birds to avoid the blades; these are apex predators for flight.

Those propellers will cut you up pretty bad. Are eagle talons stronger than human flesh?

Yes, considerably stronger. They are one of the most deadly tools in the animal kingdom in fact.

The falcons hit their prey with their talons, at 200mph. Figure a Peregrine weighs 2-3lbs, that's a lot of force. Raptor talons are pretty tough.

I mean I guess that could work ... although I wonder how fast it takes to train a falcon to do that sort of work. I'm just thinking that if the criminal gangs start losing too many drones all it takes is arming them with small explosives that detonate on impact to take out the birds. I suspect that it's going to be faster for people to build drones with bird killing capabilities than it is to train the birds.