[2] The fork-tailed storm petrel was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[3] Gmelin based his description on the "fork-tailed petrel" that had been described in 1785 in separate publications by the English ornithologist John Latham and the Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant.

[2] Its foraging behaviour resembles other storm petrels, where it flies with short, stiff wingbeats close to the surface of the water.

[12] A higher-pitched, single note call is typically emitted by males, and it is used to locate females in noisy colonies and to maintain the pair bond.

[14] During the breeding season, the fork-tailed storm petrel form dense colonies on islands throughout northern California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska, and northeast Asia off the Kamchatka Peninsula.

[10] It was reported in July 1939 that fork-tailed storm petrels were breeding on the Flannan Isles, Na h-Eileanan Flannach, which are about 35 km west of the northern tip of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland.

[21] Like other species, fork-tailed storm petrels spend most of their time out at sea and only return to land to breed around late March to early April.

[12] The fork-tailed storm petrel builds its nest in rock crevices or small burrows on isolated islands.

[12][24] Living in areas with severe climatic conditions, fork-tailed storm petrels have many adaptations to ensure breeding success.

[26] The fork-tailed storm petrel is often the sole prey item for predators early in the breeding season because they return to these remote islands long before any other seabirds.

[2] Fork-tailed storm petrels generally coexist peacefully with other seabirds, where they can be seen sharing breeding habitat with tufted puffins.

As a species that feeds on surface material and follows ships, this storm petrel often ingests oil and plastic with their food items.

[2] Surprisingly, the fork-tailed storm petrel is relatively unaffected by the toxicity of oil, as their natural diet contains substances that are very chemically similar.

[34] The greatest threats that face fork-tailed storm petrels today are global climate change and introduced species.

[18] The introduction of mammals also adversely affect storm petrels, where raccoons and river otters prey upon nests,[27] and rabbits increase soil erosion and compromise the structural integrity of burrows.