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An indirect census method was developed to enable the first large-scale censuses of shorebirds in eastern Moreton Bay, Queensland. The method used the number of bar-tailed godwits counted on high-tide roosts, and the proportion of species on associated intertidal feeding areas, to estimate the abundance of all species. Shorebirds tended to be more abundant at the time of the northward migration, while fluctuations in numbers suggested that shorebirds staged in eastern Moreton Bay during both the southward and northward migrations. Census results highlighted the large number of grey-tailed tattlers, eastern curlews and bar-tailed godwits using eastern Moreton Bay, and provided further evidence that Moreton Bay is a site of international significance for shorebirds.