Proving the saying ‘Good things come in small packages’ is a sighting of a Shima Enaga during my annual Hokkaido birding photography workshop. Winter during my annual group Hokkaido photo tour is the best time to photograph the Shima Enaga; they are so sweet they look like bouncing miniature snowballs, and their face is as white as a cotton ball. They are also known as the silver-throated tit or silver-throated dasher. They are a tiny bird (at 12-16 cm in length, including their tail at 7-9 cm). These birds are highly territorial and will protect their territory against neighboring flocks. If you want to photograph the Shima Enaga, you should join my annual Hokkaido photo tour or book with me privately for your winter wonderland photography expedition. Finding these birds by yourself would be difficult, if not impossible, and there are only a handful of pro photographers and guides in Japan that know the habitats and characteristics of these birds. The Shima Enaga was first classified as a tit of the Parus group. The Parus has been split from the Aegithalidae and becoming a distinct family containing three sub-group families. Aegithalos (long-tailed tits) are five species of birds with a tail. Psaltriparus (North America Bushtit), monotypic. Psaltriparus (pygmy bushtit), monotypic. When photographing these beautiful fluffy pure white bonny of a bird, I suggest a super-telephoto lens. 600mm f4 is good, with a 1.2x or 1.4x, or even an x2 telecenter for those up close and personal encounters. I prefer to use a 300 f2.8 or a 400mm f2.8 with a 2x telecenter, or my Nikon 800mm with a 1.2x teleconverter. My Camera of choice these days is the Nikon Z9, my camera setting for the Shima Enaga are ISO/6400, f/5.6, 1/3200s.
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