As the wintering site for four endangered cranes, hooded crane (Grus monacha), white-naped crane (G. vipio), siberian crane (G. leucogeranus) and common crane (G. grus), the East Dongting Lake was seldom studied for understanding the population dynamics of the cranes and habitat changes. In this study, the populations of four cranes in the East Dongting Lake during the past 30 years was collected, and the satellite images of the East Dongting Lake over winter were selected to extract the wetland landscape pattern in different wintering seasons. We analyzed the relationship between crane population dynamics and wetland landscape pattern change. The results showed that the population numbers of four endangered cranes in the East Dongting Lake decreased in the past 30 years. At present, four species of cranes are concentrated in the Caisang Lake and Dingzidi. The number of grey crane population is still more than 200, while the number of hooded crane, white-naped crane and siberian crane is only less than 10. From the wintering season of 1999-2000, the area of open water and mudflat of the East Dongting Lake declined and fragmented rapidly, which mainly induces the decline of crane populations. The crane populations in the East Dongting Lake should be restored via protecting and restoring habitats of crane in the future.