I had a crow's fly on top of my head and use it's claws to tear a large cut on the top of my head when I was walking around a lake in Minnesota, it felt like a razor blade did it. Probably protecting her young but I have kept my eye on crows ever since, although birds are basically safe like most living creatures they do protect their young.
Those scary images the witnesses presented of the birds do give off an unfair image that creates fear which I did feel as a witness youth. What don't the witnesses wreck? The same thing that vampire movies do to the images of bats, whom I have found to be a fairly charming creature if you view their facial expressions close up.