Shorebirds are an important group of migratory waterbirds, and its population dynamics can indicate the changes of wetland ecosystem. However, the crucial environmental variables affecting the shorebird distribution in inland wetland are still unclear. Based on the theories of species-habitat relationships in waterbirds, and applying data from waterbird surveys, field surveys, and remote sensing inversion in Dongting Lake region during the period from 2013/2014-2021/2022, this paper analysis to identify the crucial environment variables that influence the distribution of LB-L, LB-S and SB shorebirds, and discuss the impact of macro-habitat variables and micro-habitat variables (benthic density) on the spatial distribution patterns of these shorebird by employing optimal subset regression, generalized linear model and hierarchical segmentation. Results show that East Dongting Lake was the dominant distribution area of the three different types of shorebirds, Baihu Lake and Daxiaoxi Lake in East Dongting Lake were the main distribution areas of three different morphological characteristics shorebirds. LB-L shorebirds were mainly distributed in Daxiaoxi Lake and Baihu Lake, LB-S shorebirds were mainly distributed in Baihu Lake, and SB shorebirds were distributed in all core areas, there was no significant difference. At the macro level, shallow water area, human disturbance and hydrological connectivity were the crucial environmental variables affecting LB-L shorebirds distribution, shallow water area was the crucial environmental variable affecting LB-S shorebirds distribution, and human disturbance was the crucial environmental variable affecting SB shorebirds distribution. At the micro level, the distribution of LB-L shorebirds was closely related to the density of benthic animals in different microhabitats, while the distribution of LB-S and SB shorebirds were closely related to benthic animal types in some microhabitats. This study has significantly enhanced the ecological investigation of wintering waterbirds in Dongting Lake, thereby playing a crucial guiding role in terms of biodiversity conservation and wetland management within this region.