Hokkaido, Japan, is my second home, and for over twenty-five years, I have led Hokkaido Nature Photography workshops in all seasons. Winter is the best time to spot and photograph my bonnie bird, the Shima Enaga (Aegithalos caudatus japonicus), also known as the Long-Tailed Bushtit. Their behaviour and locations are usually easy to calculate in winter; unlike other seasons, they don't stray far from food sources in winter. The winter of 2025 started out looking like we were in store for a real winter. Still, in late January, the temperatures rose close to early spring weather, and this was the first time from mid-January to February I never wore my Guidewear winter bibs, also known as Ski-Doo pants. As soon as the weather warmed up, the Shima Enaga changed their behaviour and feeding habits, and my usual spots to photograph them from January to February turned up no Shima Enaga. Not spotting any Shima Enaga was very discouraging in my usual locations. Still, I knew they were most likely in the higher elevations where the sun was warming the maple trees, meaning natural maple tree syrup water ran freely from the trees. But deep snow was blocking the trails into the foothills for us. But not to worry, we had plenty of other wildlife to spot and photograph, such as Steller's sea eagles, White-tailed eagles, Yezo sika deer, Japanese tits, Ezo Risu (Hokkaido Squirrel), Blakinstons fish owl, The Japanese Sparrow hawk, Crested kingfisher, and a dozen or more other species.
The Shima Enaga can not resist maple syrup water sap running freely, plus summer and autumn before insects get caught in holes in the tree to find some maple syrup themselves, and this is one of the Shima Enaga's primary food sources in late winter and early spring. The Shima-Enaga eat predominantly arthropods and prefer the eggs and astronomically giant moths and butterflies. They also enjoy berries, seeds, and vegetables during the long winters. These little birds are adorable; they look like bouncing miniature cotton balls, their uniquely all-white face setting them apart as a recognized sub-species of the long-tailed bushtit. They are also known as the silver-throated tit or silver-throated dasher. They are a tiny bird (12-16 cm long, including their tail at 7-9 cm). Males and females are identical. You will often hear them before you see them; they have a constant and high-pitched call. Outside of the breeding season, July to February, they live in flocks from about half a dozen to two dozen composed of the family (parents and offspring) from the previous breeding season, together with extra adults that help raise the brood. The flocking behaviour is believed to be due to winter roosting, as they are susceptible to cold and huddle for warmth on chilly nights. When the breeding season begins, the flock breaks up, and the birds attempt to breed in monogamous pairs. Females tend to wander into neighbouring territories, while males remain within their winter territories.
When my annual 2025 February group photo workshop concluded, I dropped participants at the Hokkaido airport. And the very next next day, I was back on the road, searching for the Shima Enaga in the Kushiro Hokkaido, region. And I found them in the backcountry in droves, slurping up the Maple syrup sweet water and searching for insects that got stuck in the sap, and these, my adorable bonnie birds, were flying and dancing all over the maple trees. In my first session/day, I spent over 3hrs photographing the Shima Enaga, bouncing from tree to tree and branch to branch 360 degrees around me; I used the Nikon 400mm f/2.8 TC Z S and the Z9. The Shima Enaga were so close that about 50% of my shots were at 400mm, and for half, I locked in the built-in 1.4XTC, giving me 560mm; many of my shots were full frame. I spent the next four days scouting and photographing the Shima Enaga, and when my next workshop started, we spent a day with the Shima Enaga dancing all around us; it was like a dream, and ever since when I put my head on my pillow I count the Shima Enaga like Sheep.
For the winter of 2026, I will be much better prepared for my participants to have a close-up and personal encounter with the Shima Enaga. Even after twenty-five years of leading Hokkaido photo tours, Nature has something new to teach me, and I am all ears. One tool I always keep close to my heart is Zen and the beginner's mindset. "Having a beginner's mind means approaching the world through a beginner's eyes. The term is translated from the original word, Shoshin, which is a word that comes from Zen Buddhism. It means you look at every situation you're in as if it's the first time you experience it". A beginner sees endless possibilities in each theme and pursuit, so that is the mindset I bring to each project and journey I participate. However, in the classroom and among those who join my photo workshops, I understand that the paradoxes created by the beginner’s mindset require time to be grasped fully. My camera gear, valued at tens of thousands of dollars, is simply an extension of my perspective; I am all about the journey ahead. Between January and the first week of March 2025, I added 1.5 TB of new photography to my growing library, now over 130TB.