Bird photos as trophies: Status signalling, reinforcement, and competition

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.

Managerial implications

Status signalling can help manage birders communities. As deviance like baiting for photography is driven by the desire for status signalling, on-site regulations on bird photography tours are needed for the short run. In the long term, it is important to incorporate ethical guidelines in birding tour operations and promote compliance with the ethical code of conduct as a socially superior practice. Additionally, leveraging social status can be achieved by creating platforms for avitourists to showcase their photos and gain recognition. This may encourage the participation of knowledge experts who demand status signalling into anti-deviance promotion, environmental education, and protected land management.