On feeding magpies

The general view is that Cracticus Tibicen is a wild animal and that as such, should not be fed. Feeding wild animals makes them likely to become aggressive around humans in general and the picture of a magpie stealing a child's sandwich, and doing so roughly, is a strong argument for leaving them alone. The idea is that they will stay away. And in many jurisdictions, there are rules to enforce this.
About five years ago, I started feeding wild magpies with the purely selfish aim if not being swooped during the nesting season. My usual run is about 15 km and it takes me past around 40 families. But what started out as a simple bargain - food for peace - quickly became a matter of 'Where is my breakfast?'.
I've learned quite a bit about how wild animals interact with humans and quite a bit about magpies. It became more of a multi-faceted experiment.

Firstly, they have good memories. They recognise me despite any attempts to disguise myself with different coloured or styled clothing or sunglasses. The best I can do here is to avoid being recognised from 150 metres as opposed to 50. They can even recognise and remember me a year later. I think it's not just facial recognition but rather the whole package.

Secondly, they are individuals when it comes to behaviour. Some will take walnuts from my hand, some want me to toss it to them, some to the side, some want to catch on the wing. Some will sing a song before they will take the food. One juvenile male wants to choose from the plastic ziplock bag. This one is the aggressive feeder and was so from the first snack. Two want food placed on the fence. There is another pair, who after five years, still feed the same. They will both land in front of me but one will take food from my hand and the other doesn't want to. He will if I look the other way and wait long enough.  What has changed is that they learned that I carry food. Many will even wait at the side of the path for me to arrive.

Thirdly, their feeding behaviour doesn't change. It's 'imprinted' as a very young juvenile and seems inflexible after that. This means not only that the offspring learn to ask for food politely if that's what their parents do, but also to be aggressive if that's the family they were brought up in.
I've tried long and hard to tame magpies that are aggressive feeders. These are invariably close to picnic areas. I suspect they learned to be aggressively competitive during hot leftover chicken feeding frenzies. As the shy ones can't be tamed to hand-feed, I've found these can't be trained to behave. As a consequence, I just bypass these areas.

One important note is that feeding aggression is related to quantity. More food and more birds makes for more aggressive feeding and that makes sense. If I feed a family of four one piece at a time, all will be happy. Tossing a handful of food to an extended family is a no-no.

Lastly, they are smart, but not in all aspects. They can estimate where in the air a walnut half will be at any time, but easily forget that there were two pieces. They can be sneaky too. Two are in the habit of taking food then flying ahead. If they can't finish the food in time, they'll move ahead again. They've learnt they can get seconds.  

So I'll continue to feed them. It means I can run where I like and never get swooped regardless of the season. It's also entertaining. But what I have come away with is the knowledge that behaviour 'imprinting' in magpies is absolute and final. they can learn that I have food, but how they take it cannot be changed.

Limited anecdotal evidence is that others don't get swooped where I've been feeding and this is also confirmed by two web sites for reporting magpie attacks. A nice clean 15km circle amongst the red dots but only after I filter out those on bicycles. If you are on a bike and have cable ties poking from your helmet, you will be attacked. So I only count walking and running.

There is much more to the story than just 'Don't feed magpies because it teaches them to steal food and act aggressively'. Feed them the right way and you have friends for life.