Nesting sites are usually in rock crevices, occasionally in small burrows in soft earth.

Colonies are attended nocturnally in order to avoid predatory birds such as gulls, hawks and owls.

The chick is brooded for a few days after hatching until it is able to thermoregulate by itself, after which both parents forage to provide food.

The black storm petrel spends the rest of the year at sea, but occurring closer to shore than most other storm-petrels.

The black storm petrel is a common species, numbering several million pairs, and is not considered threatened.