This marine species is usually assoaciated with cold waters fringing the ice pack. It feeds mostly on crustaceans, fish and cephalopods with the proportion of each varying locally. Most food is taken by surface-seizing whilst in flocks. It attends trawlers and will take galley refuse from ships. Breeding begins in November and it is highly colonial, breeding on steep rocky slopes and precipitous cliffs on sheltered ledges or in hollows. It is a migratory species, ranging widely over the Southern Ocean (del Hoyo et al. 1992).

This species breeds along the coast of Antarctica and outlying islands, including the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Sandwich del Sur), South Orkney Islands, South Shetland Islands, Bouvet Island (to Norway) and Peter Island. At sea, it can range as far north as the coats of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and South America up to central Chile and southern Brazil.