This marine species can be found along sea coasts on rocky cliffs and offshore islands during breeding, and ranging over adjacent waters usually only to the edge of the continental shelf during non-breeding periods. Its diet is comprised mainly of a wide diversity of fish, supplemented with a significant proportion of squid, crustaceans and polychaetes. Chick diet is primarily the high fat and calorific sandeels and capelin. It obtains most prey by pursuit-diving. Individuals arive at colonies on rocky cliffs, boulder areas and talus slopes in spring, with the start of breeding being variable depending on locality. It is a colonial species with aggregations of varying sizes (del Hoyo et al. 1996).

The Horned Puffin can be found in the northern Pacific Ocean, from the coast of Japan and south-west Canada in the south, up to and including the Chukchi Sea in the north. It breeds on most of the islands and coasts in this area, up to the north of its range on Wrangel Island, Russia, but can only be found breeding as far south as the Queen Charlotte Islands (Canada) and Sakhalinsk (Russia) (del Hoyo et al. 1996).