Several Companies Compete Even in the Calendar Market… The Unwavering Popularity of the “Long-tailed Tit”—A Photographer Talks About the “Extreme Difficulty” of Capturing It
“It almost looks like it has an expression”
Known as the “snow fairy,” the Long-tailed Tit is a wild bird native to Hokkaido. Its adorable features—with ●▲● clustered in the center of its round face—and its snowball-like appearance in winter, when it puffs up its pure white feathers to protect itself from the cold, captivate many people.Belonging to the family Paridae within the order Passeriformes, it measures about 14 cm in length. It is a small bird, with its tail accounting for about half of its body length.
“Over the past seven or eight years, stuffed animals, keychains, and all sorts of other items have really started appearing at roadside stations and airports as Hokkaido souvenirs. Compared to the past, the variety has increased tremendously,”
So says Katsuhiro Yoshinaga. He is a photographer who captures familiar animals in Hokkaido and has published two photo books featuring the long-tailed tit to date.Since around 2019, he has also been producing an annual Long-tailed Tit calendar, and the 2027 edition, *Fluffy Long-tailed Tit Calendar 2027* (Kawade Shobo Shinsha), is currently on sale. In fact, Long-tailed Tit calendars are popular items released by several companies every year.We asked Mr. Yoshinaga what he finds so appealing about the long-tailed tit, along with some behind-the-scenes stories from his photography.
Mr. Yoshinaga began photographing long-tailed tits after he started capturing them as they visited his backyard. As he continued to photograph them, he says he became captivated by their cuteness.
“It’s not just their facial features, of course, but when you watch their movements closely, it starts to look like they have expressions. They might seem to be smiling or look angry. I know they’re not actually feeling those emotions, but depending on the angle, I feel like I can see different expressions. That makes them even cuter,” said Mr. Yoshinaga (all subsequent quotes are from him).
When the craze took off, people—both professionals and amateurs—who had never photographed them before began doing so, drawn in by their cuteness. The most popular shots are of their round faces looking straight ahead or of several birds gathered in a flock. As more people began aiming for these kinds of photos, the kind of photos Mr. Yoshinaga sought as a professional also changed.
The hardest wild birds to photograph!?
“Over the past two or three years, I’ve been aiming to capture difficult and rare photos that others can’t replicate. The most challenging shots to take are of them in flight. Next are shots of them on the ground—a sight you rarely get to see.”
Although I’m aiming for them, these are the kinds of photos that others simply can’t replicate—so naturally, the difficulty is high. The long-tailed tit is not only small but also incredibly nimble; it’s hard enough just to keep track of it with my eyes. Just getting it in the frame while it’s flying is a real challenge.
“Even when they’re flying, shooting from the side is still easier. Since the distance from the camera doesn’t change, it’s harder for the focus to shift. But I want to capture them flying straight toward me. They approach at incredible speed, so the focus changes in a matter of a few tenths of a second. Autofocus just can’t keep up.
I quickly turn the focus ring by hand and snap the shot with a ‘Go!’ My camera can shoot 20 frames per second, but even then, I have to shoot in a way where I’m just lucky if the focus is right.”
Furthermore, he says it’s difficult to capture the exact moment they fly toward you without them noticing the camera. Long-tailed Tits are wary of the direction where people are and rarely come close. But that’s not the only reason.
“Long-tailed Tits have a specific behavior right before they take flight. They move their heads to look around, as if deciding where to fly next. You have to watch that closely and press the shutter the moment you think they’re about to fly straight at you, directly overhead, or even just slightly toward you. If you wait until they’ve already taken off to press the shutter, it’s already too late.
They don’t stay perched on a branch for more than a few seconds. They land briefly, spend 1 to two seconds, they’ll quickly scan their surroundings and dart off to the next branch. They move so fast that just when you think they’ve landed, they’re already moving on to the next branch, and then the next. It happens all the time that by the time I spot one and point my camera at it, they’ve already flown away. That’s how active these birds are.
“I think if you asked anyone who photographs wild birds, they’d say the Long-tailed Tit is the hardest to capture. People say kingfishers are fast, too, but I think this is even harder,”
In a single season, he can count the number of good photos he takes on one hand. Even so, “When I manage to take a cute photo, it makes me want to keep trying, ” says Mr. Yoshinaga. Here are a few of Mr. Yoshinaga’s masterpieces featured in the ’27 calendar.
