“Crows can be quite vicious, and quite territorial,” Skaife said. “I heard cawing and calling, and a murder of crows swirled around, chasing a raven.” “I did see a raven this morning up in Central Park-a big flyby,” Willow said. At West Twenty-third and the Hudson River, Skaife and Willow peered through binoculars. Willow and Skaife visited three potential hot spots-Pelham Bay Park, in the Bronx (mallards, cormorants, egrets no ravens), far West Twenty-third Street, and Inwood Hill Park, at the northernmost tip of Manhattan. He has tattoos on his calves depicting ravens, as well as, he said, “the skulls of those who were executed on the Tower Green.” On a crisp Friday, Skaife met up with his friend Gabriel Willow, a trim man in a cap, who works with New York City Audubon, to embark on a raven quest.Īfter a long absence, ravens have returned to the metro area: about six pairs nest in or around New York City. Recently, while vacationing in Manhattan, Skaife, who is Beefeater-shaped, with a bristly beard, was incognito, dressed in a zippered jacket and cargo shorts. Merlina), Erin, Rocky, Jubilee II, Gripp II, Harris, and Poppy, and gives tours to some of the Tower’s three million annual visitors. Skaife is the Tower’s Ravenmaster-his new book, “ The Ravenmaster,” just came out-and in that role he cares for its most famous current residents, Merlin (a.k.a. (Formalwear involves stockings and a ruff.) Skaife lives at the Tower, too, with his wife, in a house with forty-foot walls and arrow slits for windows. When he’s at work, at the Tower of London, Yeoman Warder Christopher Skaife typically wears a uniform featuring a royal-blue tabard with scarlet ornamentation, a brass-buckled belt, and a bonnet. Christopher Skaife Illustration by João Fazenda

Ravenmaster christopher skaife