The far eastern curlew is a Critically Endangered migratory shorebird, whose global population has recently declined by up to 80%. Loss of intertidal habitat across its range has been a significant driver of this decline. In Australia, the curlew’s habitat requirements for feeding and roosting sites are poorly understood. We used GPS and satellite tracking to monitor the habitat use of 22 individual far eastern curlews over a three-year period. Combining this with geospatial and tidal data, we characterised the habitats and substrates used by the curlews in non-breeding seasons across four regions around Australia. Our results suggest that increasing protections for core non-breeding habitat, and as much of the surrounding secondary habitat area as is feasible, will have significant positive impacts for conserving the far eastern curlew in Australia.