Abstract: Studying the effect of urbanization on urban bird species diversity and protection measures is very important for the protection of urban birds and the construction of urban parks. To gain an understanding of community, species diversity and habitat of birds in urban parks with differences in area, habitat type, and human disturbance in Changsha, Hunan Province, a line transect method was used to investigate the birds’ distribution in Yuelushan Park, Juzizhou Park, Martyr Memorial Park, Nanjiao Park, and Hunan Forest Botanical Park in early May and early June of 2011 and 2013. A total of 6283 individual birds were recorded, belonging to 74 species, 31 families, and 10 orders. Among them, two species are listed in the second category of the national protected wildlife species in China. Regression analysis of  species number per unit area and park area showed that, with the increase of park area,  the bird species number was decreased. The edge effect of small parks led to more resources and more bird species. Additionally, habitat type, human disturbance, and the food availability were obviously correlated with the bird species and population. Based on the results, we proposed suggestions for the construction of urban parks in Changsha.

Key words: soil chemical property, Three Gorges Reservoir, temporal and spatial dynamics, canyon landform area, water level fluctuation zone