My Mum did this with magpies in Australia. She lives alone in a small rural town and started feeding these two magpies, that seemed to like her garden, with small pieces of meat.
Over the course of a couple of years, the magpie pair even brought their chicks along for a free feed. At one point there were six or seven regular breakfast guests.
One of the original magpies would practically eat our of my mother's hand, the other wasn't quite so bold.
Sadly, they stopped coming at one point. My mum heard from a neighbour that a large number of local birds, including magpies, had been poisoned. I guess that's what happened to them.
That's pretty cool. Aussie magpies have a ferocious reputation[1] so kudos to your Mum.
We have lots of magpies where I live and I've always wanted to make friends with them but they're both timid and obviously pretty smart so very hard to get near here.
The technique I have used for the magpies in my backyard is: leave them alone. Eventually they learn that you are not a threat and quite happily continue their everyday business even if you're nearby, without turning into a demanding pest.
The magpie outside my place does perch on my arm to eat food, but also engages in a friendly game of "guess which hand the food is in", by giving a gentle peck (I flip the food back and forth between my hands like a carnival game then close the food in one hand quickly).
Similar to me, my experience has been that you barely have to feed them for them to become comfortable being around you. I had a couple at my last house, and they'd stand ~1 metre away whilst I dug furiously with shovels, picks. I remember one time one landed next to me and snatched half a sandwich from my hand and took off.
They get a bad rep as they swoop, however, they're fascinating and beautiful animals; from their social structures of forming lifelong relationships or forming gangs[1], to their ability to mimic[1].
Over the course of a couple of years, the magpie pair even brought their chicks along for a free feed. At one point there were six or seven regular breakfast guests.
One of the original magpies would practically eat our of my mother's hand, the other wasn't quite so bold.
Sadly, they stopped coming at one point. My mum heard from a neighbour that a large number of local birds, including magpies, had been poisoned. I guess that's what happened to them.