Flock of Long-tailed Bushtits Peck at Tiny Bugs in the Bark of Chestnut Tree in Mid Winter 240fps

A chirpy flock of Long-tailed Tits (aka long-tailed bushtit; Aegithalos caudatus, family Aegithalidae) gathered and pecked at the bottom of a defoliated tree of Japanese Chestnut (Castanea crenata, family Fagaceae) in the snow-covered chestnut orchard at the foot of a mountain. They called one another as they sought for insects, spiders and tiny eggs overwintering in the nook and cranny of the bark. The long-tailed tit is a beneficial bird for the orchard because they voraciously prey on overwintering eggs of chestnut aphid (Lachnus tropicalis, family Aphididae), which is one of the worst parasitic pests for the Japanese chestnut tree. They foraged for tiny bugs hiding under the leaf litter, too. You can also see them flying around from perch to perch. The wing-strokes during the foraging behaviour were also recorded at 240-fps high-speed movie or 8x slow-motion (@0:54-). Captured in the sunny early-afternoon (around 13:15 PM) of early-January 2026 in Japan. For a full story (text in Japanese); https://sigma-nature-vlog.blogspot.com/2026/06/fhd_0307911973.html 0:00 60 fps FHD 0:54 240 fps (8x slo-mo)