There is an important need to assess and monitor the status of the Zoige plateau wetland in the face of growing degradation. Birds are the most active element of wetland ecosystem and can be used as bio-indicators of environmental change. We conducted a field study on the breeding bird community of four degradation gradients of plateau wetland in Zoige area. Analysis of the data indicates that the species abundance and the diversity index of avian community decrease gradually and the community dominance index shows an increase with the degraded succession. The similarity of avian community between two contiguous gradients of the succession is higher. The dominant species of avian community is Tringa totanus in typical wetland (stage Ⅰ), and it converts to be Melanocorypha maxima after the wetland gradually drying up into seasonal wetland (stage Ⅱ). When the wetland turned into moderate degradation (stage Ⅲ) and heavy degradation (stage Ⅳ), its dominant species groups have become Eremophila alpestris /Alauda gulgula and Montifringilla spp. /Pseudopodoces humilis, respectively. We have identified a list of bird species associated with different plateau wetland degradation stages, and presented this as a checklist for future monitoring and assessing on plateau wetland degradation.