Beastfile · Birds

Shima Enaga

Aegithalos caudatus japonicus

Also known as Snow Fairy, Japanese Long-tailed Tit, Shimaenaga

A wild bird so round and white it gets mistaken for a plush toy.

Overview

The shima enaga is a subspecies of long-tailed tit found only on Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, where it has picked up the nickname "snow fairy." Adults lose the dark eye markings that juveniles and mainland Japanese long-tailed tits both have, ending up with a completely white face, and in cold weather they fluff their feathers for insulation until the whole body reads as a round white puff with a long black-and-white tail stuck on the back. The bird is barely bigger than a ping pong ball with feathers, roughly 14cm long including a tail that makes up close to half of that. The name enaga comes from hishaku, the long-handled ladle its silhouette is said to resemble.

A shima enaga perched among bare winter twigs, showing its white face and dark wing markings

Origin

Exclusively the island of Hokkaido, in deciduous and mixed woodland. It doesn't occur naturally anywhere else, mainland Japan's long-tailed tit subspecies keep the dark eye-stripe this one lacks.

Habitat

Woodland

Notable Traits

•Adults have a completely white face, unlike other long-tailed tit subspecies
•Fluffs into a round shape in cold weather for insulation, not just for looks
•Roughly 14cm long, and close to half of that is tail
•Found only on Hokkaido, nowhere else in the wild
•Travels in family flocks of half a dozen or more outside breeding season

Conservation

Not separately assessed, but the parent species, the long-tailed tit, is IUCN Least Concern with a large, stable range across Europe and Asia. The Hokkaido population isn't considered at risk.

🤯 Fun Facts

📁 Related Files

Shima Enaga

The shima enaga's round, snowball shape is just how the bird always looks.

That roundness is a deliberate winter behavior. It fluffs its feathers to trap air for insulation against Hokkaido's cold, and looks noticeably slimmer the rest of the year.

2 sourcesRead the evidence