Dave Ellis' Wildlife Photography
Over the years, Dave Ellis has produced some incredible wildlife photographs—the kind of shots that everyone else only dreams about. In recent years his unique talents have been recognized, as he has published a weekly column in the Peterborough Examiner (Peterborough This Week/Kawartha Lakes This Week). His photos have been featured in Outdoor Canada Magazine, the Toronto Star, PTBO News, Canadian Geographic Magazine and will be featured in an upcoming John McQuarrie coffee table book. He and his wife Astrid publish annual wildlife calendars. It has taken a lot of devotion to become the Kawartha Lakes’ best known wildlife photographer.
Few people realize the amount of dedication that it takes to capture such amazing wildlife photographs. Dave spends countless hours, sometimes days, standing still, waiting for the perfect shot. “If you are not poised, with your finger on the button ready to shoot, you will miss it. When the action happens you only have a few seconds to get focused on your subject and get the picture. If you are not waiting behind the camera, it will take too long. You have to be standing, ready, watching the sky or scene to take that perfect picture. In the winter it can be -15 or -20 degrees and sometimes you can’t feel your fingers on the buttons anymore.”
“I can’t do it as long as Dave can,” Astrid explains. “I have learned to be more patient, and I enjoy being out in nature.” For Dave it is like military discipline, standing still in a swamp in bug season while the mosquitoes eat him alive. It takes a really special person to be a great wildlife photographer. One time Dave fell in the swamp with his high-quality camera and there he was soaking wet, holding the camera up out of the water. He didn’t mind getting wet as long as the camera didn’t.
Dave and Astrid took up wildlife photography as a retirement project. Dave grew up in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, and moved to Edmonton in 1979, where he learned photography with a Minolta SLR film camera. Two years later he moved to Toronto to operate a handicraft business in the Gould Street vending mall just off of Yonge St., where he met Astrid. “I have always been interested in photography. When I was in my 20s, I sold my fishing boat so I could buy a camera, but back then they did not have the lenses and cameras that they have today. Through my whole life I dabbled in photography.” He got a lot of practice, photographing their handcraft merchandise while working in Toronto.
After 20 years in Toronto, Astrid and Dave decided to move to the Kawarthas. They agree that it was the best move they ever made. Dave had made leather handicrafts, cut gems and made jewellery. He had intended to continue this work in the Kawarthas, but found that a home shop was not feasible. They enjoyed canoeing and fishing together, then bought cameras and fell in love with nature photography.
“One day, when we were on the Otonabee River, we saw someone taking a picture of a bird on the ice. We realized that it was a bald eagle, and from that point on became more and more fascinated with nature photography. I soon realized that I needed a bigger lens,” Dave explains. The equipment to be able to take such gorgeous photographs costs a lot but once he was properly equipped, Dave made the most of his gear. In 2018 the local paper expressed an interest in his nature photography and it soon led to his photographs and stories being published in a weekly column.
As they have spent countless hours together—often 40 to 60 hours per week—carefully observing local fauna, Dave and Astrid have a unique story to share about the region. Many days they leave home at 4 am and don’t get back until dark. It is something really special to be able to watch bald eagles feed their young or seeing a snowy owl for the first time.
One of their fondest memories is a time they spent observing a family of foxes. “We had found their den and spent weeks hanging out around them taking pictures,” Dave recalls. “We were trying to stay inconspicuous and not intrude on them but the fox had another plan. The mother fox was raising the kits on her own. Something must have happened to the father. The sly mother fox quickly saw the advantage in this situation and began using us as a babysitter. At first, when she brought them past us the little foxes ran away. They had been taught to avoid humans, but she wanted them to come by, so she went by two or three times with them. She made them pass by us to get used to us. She wanted to leave the little foxes where we were, while she was going off to hunt. She knew that if they were there with us, no other danger would come around. As the cool morning had warmed up I had thrown my jacket on the grass. The mother fox went to where my jacket was, laid down on it and rolled all around on it. She was chewing and mouthing it over and over. It took us a while to realize what she was doing. She was getting our scent onto herself, so the kits would become more comfortable with us. It was like we were being adopted into the family. She would bring the kits out and leave them with us while she went off to hunt.”
“The fox kits are so small, smaller than a cat,” Astrid continues. “It was interesting watching when she came home with food, and how she taught them. One day they would have to go hunting on their own.” Dave and Astrid produced some adorable photographs of the kits as they observed them growing up.
“Driving on a back road we came across a great grey owl lying in the roadway that appeared to have been hit by a car,” Dave recounts. Jumping out of his car, “I thought it was dead, but when I bent down to pick it up, it came to life and half flew to the edge of the road, dragging its wing behind it. I caught up to it, and took it to a grove of cedar trees off to the side where we felt the owl would be safe. We didn’t know what to do. The nearest owl rehabilitation facility was hours away, and it would probably not have survived the trauma of getting there, so we thought it was better to leave the owl there in a calm protected area and let nature take its course. When we came back the next day the owl wasn’t there. We figured that it had survived because there was no pile of feathers on the ground. We looked around for it and found it hunting a couple of miles up the road in a little apple orchard, where it could hunt mice. I spent the next two months with this beautiful creature. Great grey owls live up in the boreal forest and just come down here in the winter. Many of them have never seen a human before so they are not afraid of us. This one was like that. It would come in and land just a few feet from me. That was something special.”
One late winter day Dave was photographing a bald eagle’s nest, while the mother sat on her eggs. They were not long before hatching when a late winter storm blew in. “The winds were ferocious. I heard this big crack in the nest tree. A few more gusts and the whole tree and the huge nest crashed to the ground. The female eagle managed to safely get away from the nest and survive. For the next 5 or 6 hours she and her partner flew around the nest, screaming and crying. They held their heads up to the sky and screamed and screamed. They had just lost their nest and their family. It was heart breaking to watch. If you think that animals don’t have emotions, they do. They behave just like humans would if they lost their home and family.”
“It’s all a great learning experience,” Dave explains. “We do not travel to far flung places. We usually are within an hour of our front door. We spend a lot of time watching animals. They are all around us and if you quietly blend yourself into their world and pay close attention you can experience some amazing sights. It’s not something we are going to be able to do forever.”
Astrid adds, “We wish we could have started wildlife photography much earlier in our lives. There have been so many magical moments.” Residents of the Kawarthas are fortunate that Dave and Astrid have devoted so much of their time to capturing these incredible sights, and have the generosity to share their experiences.
To see more of Dave’s photography, check out:
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Loon on Nest
The common loon is an iconic bird of Canada and the Kawartha Lakes. Hearing its stirring call is one of the great pleasures of being by the lake on a summer evening. Loons take turns incubating the eggs which will hatch in about 30 days. Their nests are always very close to the water because loons cannot maneuver well on land.
Great Blue Heron with Muskie
Great blue herons are plentiful in the Kawartha Lakes. They can often be seen fishing along the shore of the many waterways here. This one has just returned from wintering in the south and is in full breeding plumage. It has caught itself a two foot muskie that it will swallow whole.
Great Blue Heron Fishing
Great blue herons are prolific fishers and are very good at it. They often stand motionless in shallow water and wait for a fish to come to them. When one does they strike out with lightning speed with their long neck and dagger like beak to spear or grab the fish.
A Pair of Pileated Woodpeckers
Pileated woodpeckers are the largest woodpecker in North America at nearly 18 inches tall. They can often be heard in the Kawarthas hammering on trees searching for bugs to eat. In this photo the female with her black mustache is coming out of the nest cavity while the male with a red mustache waits to take over nesting duties.
Bull Moose
Nothing symbolizes the great Canadian wilderness better than a bull moose with its massive rack of antlers. It is hard to imagine how they can move through the dense forest with them. Moose can often be seen browsing on vegetation in the swamps and bogs. A little known fact about them; they can dive to 18 ft. and walk along the floor of lakes.
Snowy Owl
Snowy owls live and breed in the Canadian Arctic but each year numbers of them come to visit us here in the Kawartha Lakes. Usually the ones that come here are younger birds that do not have an established territory after leaving the nest up north. Snowy owls need to eat 6 or 7 mice every day so they come south to hunt in the farm fields where mice are plentiful.
Bald Eagle Feeding Young
Bald eagles are becoming more and more common in Ontario and the Kawartha Lakes. Since the banning of DDT and the adoption of more conscientious conservation attitudes the bald eagles have been thriving. All of the conditions are perfect for them here in the Kawarthas. Hopefully we can look forward to seeing even more of them in future years. They are spectacular and majestic.
Trumpeter Swan with Young
Trumpeter swans were nearly extirpated in Ontario in the early 1900’s, but thanks to changes in conservation measures and the dedication of many individuals they have made a sensational comeback. We now have trumpeter swans breeding and nesting on many of the lakes and water bodies here in the Kawartha Lakes. This family of four little ones was a pleasure to photograph.
Great Blue Heron on Nest
Great blue herons nest in colonies called rookeries which can have anywhere from a few nests to a couple of hundred. They do this for protection from predators and will work together to defend the rookery. The nests are usually built high up in trees and are reused year after year.
Bald Eagle and Chicks on Nest
Bald eagle nests are very large, sometimes weighing a ton or more and can be 7 or 8 feet in diameter and quite deep. The adult eagles share the nesting duties and are attentive to every need of the young. The young eagles grow very quickly and in three months are as big as the adults and are ready to fledge. This proud Mama is waiting for Dad to return with a fish to feed the two fuzzy headed youngsters.
Loon Feeding Young
Loons are very attentive and protective parents. A large part of their day is spent catching and feeding their young chicks fish. They are extremely adept at diving and swimming underwater to catch these tiny fish that they bring to the young ones.
Red-bellied and Red-headed Woodpeckers
This was a very unusual scene to photograph. Woodpeckers can be quite territorial and these two species of woodpecker are not usually seen together unless they are quarreling. This pair however, was hanging out together for several weeks, providing me with multiple opportunities to get interesting photographs of their interactions.
Least Bittern Mother about to Feed its Young
It was a pleasure to watch and photograph this family of least bitterns. The smallest members of the heron family, least bitterns are very elusive and secretive. Normally remaining hidden as they move through the swamp and marsh grasses, photographing this family was a rare glimpse into their life. Here the young bitterns were waiting for Mom to arrive with a fish or frog to feed to the lucky one who was quickest to grab the prize when Mom returned.
Osprey with Fish
Ospreys are sometimes known as fish hawks because of their total reliance on fish as a food source. Once threatened with low numbers they are now flourishing thanks to caring citizens and groups like “Friends of the Osprey” that helped build nest platforms for them to use. Ospreys now inhabit almost every lake in this area and many are building their own nests in natural locations.
Fox Kit
What could be more charming than the innocence and curiosity of a young fox kit. This little red fox kit was left on its own with its three siblings each day as its mother went off to hunt to feed the family. The father did not seem to be around so the mother had her hands full raising the kits. It was fascinating to watch her teach the young ones the ways of their world so they could go off and survive on their own.
Bullfrog and Turtle
It appeared as if this painted turtle and bullfrog were involved in an intense morning conversation about life in the pond. We are extremely fortunate to have such an abundance of aquatic life to enjoy all around us here in the Kawartha Lakes region. The frogs and turtles are keynote indicators of the health of the water systems in any area.
Great Blue Heron Feeding Young
The cacophony of sounds and vigorous action that occurs when an adult heron returns to the nest to feed the young herons is spectacular. The adults go off fishing and return with whatever they have caught stored in a special pouch in their throat called a gular pouch. The young birds compete to be the lucky recipient of the contents of the pouch. It is surprising that nobody gets an eye poked out with all that commotion and those sharp beaks flailing about.
Great Horned Owl
It was pretty ominous to have this great horned owl coming straight at me with her wings fully spread, but not to worry. She was headed back to her nest after going off to meet up with the male who was nearby hunting for food to feed the chick. She was nesting in the middle of a heron rookery which I am sure was very threatening to the herons. Owls do not build their own nests and often occupy a nest that was built by another species.
Loon Passing Food to Young
It is amazing to watch the intricacies of nature unfold before your eyes. These loon chicks were just days old and their parents were catching tiny fish to feed them. How the loons can chase down and catch such tiny minnows and tenderly feed them to the chicks is phenomenal. As the chicks grow bigger the adults catch larger and larger fish to feed them. If they bring too large a fish the chicks refuse to eat it. To teach them to fish, as the chicks grow older the adults drop the live fish in front of them and they have to catch it themselves.
Osprey with Muskie
What a thrill to see this osprey flying back to its nest with this muskie in its talons. In the early spring the muskie are up in the shallows spawning and the osprey know that and take full advantage of the feeding opportunity. They have just returned from a long migration flight and can use the extra food source to replenish their energy.
Otter on the Beach
River otters are fun to photograph. They appear to be happy animals that like to play and have fun. I have never seen anyone enjoy eating a fish as much as an otter does. Every time I see this photo I laugh. We call it “Otter on a Canadian Beach” because he looks so at ease like he is enjoying relaxing on the beach.
Snowy Owl in Sunlight
Snowy owls hunt by positioning themselves on a small rise in a field where they can listen and watch for mice or voles moving about in the field. They use these small knolls as starting spots because they normally live in the Arctic where there are no trees. Snowy owls have exceptional hearing and sight and can spot a mouse on the snow or hear a rodent moving about under the snow a hundred yards away. Silently they fly to the location they have pinpointed and pounce on the unsuspecting prey.
