Monitoring spots

As birding gained popularity among Napo residents, some, including Ma Chaozhong, developed a deep passion for the hobby. Ma, director of the Laohutiao Regional Nature Reserve in Napo, also manages the Defu reserve.

After learning from Lin about his bird hide and the diverse species he documented at the Defu reserve, Ma realized that establishing more hides in or near reserves offered a promising method for monitoring the area's avian population. Lin's younger brother now manages two hides within the Defu reserve.

"We actually prefer to call them 'bird monitoring spots' rather than hides," Ma said.

According to Ma, before "Uncle Lin" — Lin's nickname among the birding community — began photographing, the official bird species list for the Napo reserves contained only 184 entries. That number has now surpassed 300.

In addition to the Defu sites managed by his brother, Lin and Ma have collaborated to create five bird monitoring spots within the Laohutiao nature reserve.

Spanning about 23,560 hectares, the reserve shares a 72-kilometer border with Vietnam. The landscape is dominated by steep karst formations, leaving villagers living within and near the reserve with limited options for agriculture, often only being able to cultivate corn on scattered, barren patches of hillside. As a result, migration to cities in search of work is the only viable path for many young locals.