Gansu Heihe River National Nature Reserve,which located in the middle river basin of the second large inland river of China,is a sort of wetland ecosystem reserve.The bird richness and abundance of the breeding season (from May to August) and the migration season (March to April and September to October) in this area were surveyed in 2008 by the methods of line transect and fixed-radius point count in four types of habitats (wetlands,farm village,plantation and desert).A total of 116 bird species belonging to 17 Orders and 35 Families were recorded in this survey,which includes 73 summer visitors,20 migratory crossing birds,17 residents and 6 wintering birds.In wetland habitats,50 bird species including 47 summer visitors were observed in breeding season and 44 bird species including 17 migratory crossing birds in migration season,but in other habitats (farm village,plantation and desert),the breeding birds consist of 33 summer visitors and 17 residents,the migratory crossing birds only contribute 3 species.These results indicate that the Reserve is very rich in summer visitor birds and migratory crossing birds,which distributed mostly in the wetland habitats,and suggested that the Reserve is the important breeding site and stopover for migratory birds in the northwest of China.