The Yellow River Delta is an internationally important stopover place for waterfowl, but natural factors and human activities have resulted in loss of waterfowl habitat and biological diversity in this area. The habitat quality and diversity of waterfowl can be greatly improved by using fresh water to restore habitat. However, with fresh water shortage and large water consumption in agriculture, domestic use, and industry in this area, ecological water consumption is insufficient. In this case, how to utilize fresh water, sea water, and waste water adaptively considering the local conditions and give full play to the wetland function to protect biodiversity and purify the environment become the key problem to bird habitat restoration. This article summarized the diversity and the habitat requirements of waterfowl in the Yellow River Delta, and examined the water use status and the demands and challenges to the habitat of waterfowl in this area. We also analyzed the measures to restore waterfowl habitat, resource availability, restoration effects, challenges of waterfowl habitat restoration using fresh water, sea water, and waste water, and then proposed some research prospects. We hope that this article can provide a scientific foundation for the optimized measures of waterfowl habitat restoration for improving waterfowl diversity. Bases on the migration of waterfowl, temporal pattern of Yellow River water discharge, patch pattern of waterfowl habitat, status of water utilization, the wetland type after water diversion, and spatial distribution of different kinds of water resources, we recommend to comprehensively use fresh water, sea water, and waste water to restore waterfowl habitat by considering the temporal patterns of water supply, spatial arrangements of habitats, and a combination of the different habitat types at the same patch, with the purpose of giving full play to the wetland function and improving the biological diversity.
