Abstract: Based on field survey from May 1996 to June 2003, species diversity, distribution and population sizes of rare, endangered and national key protected wetland waterfowls in Hubei province of central China were studied with direct counting and special survey. There were 45 species of these waterfowl in Hubei's wetlands, belonging to 24 genera of 9 families of 6 orders, in which 34 species were recorded. Two species,Egretta eulophotes and Ixobrychus minutus were firstly recorded in Hubei. In terms of geographical distribution types, the Palaearctic, Oriental and Cosmopolitan species numbers were 35, 8 and 2 respectively. The Palaearctic species were dominant. According to the seasonal pattern, 30 species were winter migrant, 8 were summer migrant, 5 were traveling birds and 2 species were resident. The Grallatores (23 species) were nearly equal to the Natatores (22 species). About 41.1796 ×104 individuals were estimated as the total number of these kinds of waterfowls in Hubei province. Twentythree species with 8247 individuals were the IUCN red list of threatened birds, 22 species with 3615 individuals were listed as the China red list of threatened birds,23 species with 40.6316×104 individuals were ranked the threatened birds by CITES, and 24 species with 3838 individuals were graded as the national key protected birds. Eleven species were not recorded within our investigation, and it showed that they could be extinct in the wild or critically endangered in Hubei wetlands. The result showed that Honghu, Chenhu,Longganhu, Liangzihu and Wanghu Lakes could be ascertained as the Ramsar international key wetlands in terms of 1 % criterion of the globe waterfowl geographical population.

Key words: rare