A wedge-tailed eagle has attacked and badly damaged a drone flying over farm machinery in Western Australia.

Leigh Nairn was using the drone in photo mode to check the set-up of his airseeder when the eagle swooped and knocked the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) out of the sky.

The farmer from Binnu, north of Geraldton, said the bird grabbed the drone with its talons.

"I had the drone up just doing a bit of scouting in a paddock, checking the airseeder to see how it was all going in, and then out of nowhere to the left a big wedgie came in and attacked my drone," he said.

He said the drone camera was damaged and a propeller was knocked off.

He was concerned the eagle would carry the drone away.

"It just came in from above, so it must have been circling," Mr Nairn said.

"It might have got a bit of damage on him from one of the propellers, I'm not sure."

He said he thought the eagle might have mistaken the drone as another bird in its territory.

As for the photograph, Mr Nairn said what he captured was luck.

Eagles attacking drones are not uncommon, with a Victorian aerial video firm having its UAV attacked and taken down in 2015.

Dutch police are also training eagles to attack and snatch rogue drones out of the sky in an effort to curb unsafe usage.

Mr Nairn said he often used a drone to check his airseeder was set up correctly.

"We had a little bit of trouble with setting up the GPS in the airseeder so I put it up to see where we are at with overlap and coverage," he said.

Mr Nairn, who also works as an agronomist, said he also used a drone to check emerging crops in the region.