This marine species is found offshore or in cool pelagic waters. It feeds mainly on planktonic crustaceans, particularly krill, but will also feed on some small fish and young cephalopods. Prey are caught under water in a pursuit-dive or by surface-seizing. It breeds between October and February in colonies on oceanic islands amongst scree or volcanic ash above the tree line, or under sand dunes in areas of relatively flat ground. It nests in burrows with an end chamber. Little is known about its movements but it is presumably sedentary (del Hoyo et al. 1992).

The South Georgia Diving-Petrel has a circumpolar distribution, breeding on South Georgia (Georgias del Sur) in the south Atlantic and on the Prince Edward Islands (South Africa), Crozet and Kerguelen Islands (French Overseas Territories) and Heard Island (Australia) in the southern Indian Ocean (del Hoyo et al. 1992).