Abstract: To understand the distribution status of birds in Beichuan River Wetland Park, a part of Xining Huangshui National Wetland Park in Qinghai Province, we investigated bird community composition and diversity in four types of habitats from January to September 2019 by using the line transect and plot sampling methods. A total of 73 bird species belonging to 16 orders and 33 families were recorded, with five dominant species including Anas zonorhyncha, Mergus merganser, Ardea alba, Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus, and Passer montanus. There was one national first-class protected bird species (Ciconia nigra), and four national second-class protected bird species including Cygnus cygnus, Podiceps nigricollis, Platalea leucorodia, and Falco tinnunculus. Migratory birds accounted for 46.58% of the total number of bird species, followed by resident birds at 27.40%, summer birds at 15.07%, and winter birds at 10.96%. The highest diversity was in summer (3.0588), followed by spring (2.8530), and the lowest was in autumn (1.6032). The artificial lake habitat had the highest diversity (2.3602). Waterfowl and songbirds were the most abundant (34.25%), followed by wading birds (16.44%). Our results provided basic data for animal protection and health evaluation in the Xining Huangshui National Wetland Park in Qinghai Province.

Key words: birds, diversity, wetland, Qinghai Province