Endangered Species?

I probably don't need to identify these lovingly tendered golden leaves. These have been a common feature of the landscape here for a long time, but maybe the days are numbered.

When the leaves have acquired the right colour and proportions they are collected individually and dried in small drying rooms, they are then sorted and tied into what look like parrots and squeezed into bales. This activity occupies the farmers and their helpers for many months. I'm sure they are worried what they are going to do when another endangered species obtains its fix from a small bottle of liquid and a battery or gives up the habit entirely. Lets hope they will find something else to do.