Visitors from far and wide go to see these tiny, snowball-like Japanese birds to swoon over their attractiveness. The images are almost too good to be true as one expert photographer captured the little birds “working out” using delicate tree branches as their gym.
Shima-enaga, literally “long-tailed island bird,” are often referred to as “snow fairies” in Japan. They are a subspecies of the long-tailed tit and may be found in the forests of Hokkaido, the second-largest island in Japan.
Hiroki Takahashi, an island native who resides in Sapporo, has long been entrapped by snow faeries. After spending a month searching for snow faeries in the forest, Hiroki captured a beautiful sequence of images of the small bird “working out” in December 2022.
Hiroki explained his fortunate day to The Epoch Times: “The long-tailed tit is incredibly fast and very difficult to photograph, [but its] egg-like fаce is so adorable thаt i walk over 20,000 steps а day to cаpture it.
Hiroki claims that in order to get a “cute frontal photo” of the small birds, he too must adopt various stances and positions since the long-tailed tit won’t stay still in one place for very long before moving in various directions.
Hiroki captured several close-up images of the snow fаiries’ adorable canopy acrobatics with his Canon EOs R5 camera and 300mm lens, including their bouncing around branches, hanging upside-down, diving into the air, and even appearing to do pull-ups on thick twigs.
Shima-enaga are little birds that typically weigh around one-fifth of an ounce (about 8 grammes) and measure 5 to 6 inches (around 13 to 15 centimetres) in adulthood. They have a somewhat long tail. They are omnivores and primarily eat insects and other invertebrates. Shima-enaga are common all year round on the island, but they really come into their own during the winter when they fluff their feathers in preparation for extreme cold.
Adult shima-enaga lose their heavy black “eyebrows,” unlike the long-tailed tits of the mainland, so that their flawless white faces with small beaks resemble blown-up cotton balls. The fluffy tiny bird also has another unusual characteristic in that if they are unable to mate successfully in the spring, individual birds will band together to help the 20–30 other birds in their flock raise their young.
Shima-enaga, a treasured symbol of the island of Hokkaido, are frequently found on trinkets and handcrafted goods.
His career as a photographer began with landscape and portrait photography, and only later, after becoming a father, did he become interested in single-lens reflex cameras. Early in 2022, he began going on nature walks and took his first pictures of Ezo flying squirrels. A passion for photographing animals was formed.
Hiroki was taken aback by the excellent feedback he received after posting his most recent images of snow fаiries on Instagram.
He told The Epoch Times, “It made me happy.” “Hokkaido is quite little compared to the rest of the globe, yet in the winter the animals grow incredibly cute fluffy fur to prepare for the cold. I’d be happy if we could spread such sweetness over the entire planet.