The Wielikąt Ponds are situated in the Odra River valley, not far from the Morawska Gate, in the Wodzisław Śląski administrative district (Upper Silesia). The study area comprises about 800 ha, including ponds with dikes which cover 370.5 ha. The ponds are fed by two streams. The main mass of emerged vegetation is formed by Phragmites australis, Typha angustifolia and T. latifolia. The paper presents non published faunistic observations from the Wielikąt Ponds collected in the years 1997-2001. Information from the years 1982-1996 was added to the material cited from Szyra (2001). The text contains a list of all waterfowl species recorded in the Wielikąt Ponds up to 2001. Data concerning breeding aquatic birds collected in the years 1994-1996 were presented in Table 1. The Wielikąt Ponds were identified as considerable refuge of nesting and passage birds of national importance (Gromadzki et al. 1994). Altogether 210 bird species, including 106 waterfowl ones, were recorded in the area. Among them there are 44 breeding or probably breeding species (e.g. 4 grebe species, 9 duck species, 5-6 species of Rallidae family, 6-8 of Charadriiformes family). The ponds are one of the few breeding grounds of Netta rufina in Poland. Other species as Botaurus stellaris, Ixobrychus minutus, Aythya nyroca, Haliaeetus albicilla, Porzana porzana, Luscinia svecica and Panurus biarmicus have also their breeding localities in the area. Species, which are rare in Poland, such as Phalacrocorax pygmeus, Egretta garzetta, Ardea purpurea, Platalea leucorodia, Anser erythropus, Branta ruficollis, Oxyura leucocephala, Xenus cinereus and Chlidonias hybridus were recorded there during their migrations. The ponds are also an important moulting ground of Cygnus olor in south-western Poland. In the 1990s up to 1300 individuals of the species were recorded in the area. In autumn the ponds are an important feeding ground and a rest area of Pluvialis apricaria and Squatarola squatarola.