Shengjin Lake National Nature Reserve is one of the most important wetlands in the world and an important habitat for wintering cranes in China. Environmental factors of wetland ecosystems influence habitat selection of cranes. In this study, we analyzed data of land use types and winter bird observation in Shengjin Lake during the period from 1986 to 2015. Grey relevancy model was adapted to examine the relationship between crane population and land use types, with the aim to get the main habitat types of cranes. Principal component analysis was used to analyze the main factors influencing habitat selection of cranes. The results showed that reed beach land was the main habitat type for four species of overwintering cranes. The main factors affecting the habitat selection of cranes were water level, planktonic biomass, and residential distance. Within those factors, the relative weight of water level was the highest, followed by planktonic biomass and residential distance.