Avitourism and avitourists are more frequently characterized by intense photography. Although discussions on wildlife photography are not new, few have explained the meanings behind photo-sharing. Drawing on the concept of photograph as trophy, we interviewed 26 Chinese avitourists across a wide specialisation spectrum. From casual to advanced avitourists, we found that the stories behind the photos, the particularity of species, and the sophistication of photography techniques are the defining qualities of trophy-like photos. Sharing such photos, like conservation photographs, indicates co-existence and amicable encounters with nature. These photos may be used to communicate high social status. The finer the photos were made, the stronger the implications that they are costly, pro-environmental, and produced with the assistance of power. Importantly, pro-environmentalism implicitly communicates a sense of altruism and cultural capital, which enables status signalling. Such photos can contribute to the reinforcement and competition of status, which thereby catalyses cheating and other deviant photography actions. Such deviance is reversely justified with the positive pro-environmental birder image. Excavating such multi-faceted meanings of bird photos may help explain bird photo-taking and sharing, and provide implications for involving birders in protected land management.