Bird strike events mainly occur within airports. Investigating the bird composition in the surrounding habitats of airports is essential to develop strategies preventing bird strikes. Most airports have carried out related bird composition surveys, but there are significant differences in the survey methods used. In this study, the bird composition in Shenyang Taoxian International Airport was surveyed duing migration seasons using two different surveying methods:the line transect and the mist-net capture. This study intended to compare the performance on the bird detection and the species composition of the bird community between the two different methods. In total, 97 bird species were recorded, implying that both methods were operable for the survey of birds in airports. However, the number of bird species recorded by the mist-net capture was higher than that by the line transect (83 vs. 57). The number of bird species recorded solely by the mist-net was also higher than that by the line transect (40 vs. 14). There were no significant differences in the average number of the species sampled per phase (half a month). However, the cumulative numbers of bird species recorded by the mist-net were significantly larger than those recorded by the line transect with increasing investigation intensity (e.g., the number of surveys). The asymptote of the maximum of bird species was also reached later in mist-net capture than line transect. In addition, the composition of the bird community recorded by the two methods was also significantly different, such as the mist-net capture recorded more nocturnal migratory birds (e.g., quails and owls). In contrast, the line transect recorded typical waterbirds (e.g., herons and ducks). Thus, our study illustrated that the two bird-surveying methods were complementary in bird surveys in the airports. Furthermore, appropriate bird surveying methods should be selected based on the characteristics of the bird community, and a combination of different survey methods could promise to obtain more scientific data about the bird community composition.