KUNMING, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- In the eyes of fellow villagers, Mi Bosi seems to be bumming around all day.
Instead of working in the farmland, he receives photographers in his hut, which is built near the bird habitats in southwest China's Yunnan Province.
The hut is not built to trap birds, instead, it is a secret place for photographers to film birds without frightening them.
"Bird-filming and watching is a new business in my village as most local people here are living on farming," said Mi.
Mi's hometown Sanhe Village is located in deep and isolated canyon of Nujiang River in Luzhang Township, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture. For a long time, with limited arable land and frequent occurrence of natural disasters, the village was afflicted by poverty.
"In the past, birds were our dishes when we were starved, so the birds were always scared away by human," Mi said.
Deep in the grand canyon and thick forests, the village boasts a rich variety of wild birds. A local agroforestry company built two pilot huts for bird-filming and watching last year, which has already welcomed more than 3,000 shutterbugs.
Given the positive outcome of the pilot huts, the local government has speeded up efforts to popularize the new business with another 15 huts set up.
Mi went in for the business last year. Just in front of his house stands the hut, with two black shading nets on the roof, eight bird-filming windows and eight chairs.
As the owner of the hut, protecting birds becomes Mi's daily routine now. "I feed birds water and food each day so that I start to live in harmony with them now," Mi said.
With more birds settling down near the huts, more photographers have been attracted to this place for filming. "I have earned more than 5,000 yuan (705 U.S. dollars) by the end of 2018 through offering transportation and meal-delivery services," Mi said, adding that the income far surpasses that from farming.
Now, a group of local villagers begin to engage in the bird-related business.
"In the past, we view birds as our source of food, but now we are close friends, caring birds and protecting their habitats are our due responsibility now," Mi said.
