These Adorable Tiny Birds Look Like Cotton Balls

During lockdown, we're in need of a constant stream of cute animal snaps to keep us going. And what's better than these tiny birds that resemble fluffy balls of cotton wool?

Not much, if you ask us.

The adorable fluffy birds, known as long-tailed tits (not that you can even see their tails properly with all the fluff) can be found in Europe and Asia, but a specific breed in Japan is known for its cotton wool ball appearance.

Found in Hokkaido, the unusual birds have pure white faces, while other long-tailed tits in different regions are known for having a larger variety of brown and grey feathers.

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For this reason, the Hokkaido species have adopted the cotton wool ball nickname. So cute.

And the birds are so loved, people can't stop taking snaps of the precious creatures and posting them on social media.

In fact, they're so unique to Hokkaido, that they even have their very own name in the region - the shima-enaga bird.

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The tiny creatures are around 13-15cm long and usually have a black tail and wings, with a completely white face and neck.

The friendly creatures can be seen all year round and are usually in flocks of up to 30, meaning if you are in Hokkaido, you could look up to see what appears to be a lot of flying cotton wool.

They prefer to hang out in woodland, farmland, parks and gardens.

We can't stop scrolling through images of the adorable fluff balls on Instagram. That's one way to kill some time during isolation...

Topics: Life News, Cute, Animals

Lucy Devine

Lucy is a journalist working for Tyla. After graduating with a master's degree in journalism, she has worked in both print and online and is particularly interested in fashion, food, health and women's issues. Northerner, coffee addict, says hun a lot. Get in touch at [email protected].

@lucedevine