These smallest of seabirds feed on planktonic crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface, typically while hovering.

The family Hydrobatidae was introduced with Hydrobates as the type genus by the Australian born ornithologist Gregory Mathews in 1912.

[2] The background is complicated as the family Hydrobatidae had originally been introduced in 1849 with Hydrobata as the type genus by the French zoologist Côme-Damien Degland.

[3] Hydrobata had been erected in 1816 for species in the dipper family Cinclidae by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot.

In 1884 Spencer Baird, Thomas Brewer and Robert Ridgway designated the European storm petrel as the type species.

In 2010, the International Ornithological Congress (IOC) added the Cape Verde storm petrel (O. jabejabe) to their list of accepted species (AS) splits, following Bolton et al.

The Hydrobatidae have longer wings than the austral storm petrels, forked or wedge-shaped tails, and shorter legs.

The legs of all storm petrels are proportionally longer than those of other Procellariiformes, but they are very weak and unable to support the bird's weight for more than a few steps.

Northern storm petrels also use dynamic soaring, gliding across wave fronts gaining energy from the vertical wind gradient.

[18][19] The diet of many storm petrels species is poorly known owing to difficulties in researching; overall, the family is thought to concentrate on crustaceans.

Instead, feeding usually takes place on the wing, with birds hovering above or "walking" on the surface (see morphology) and snatching small morsels.

They may benefit from the actions of diving predators such as seals and penguins, which push prey up towards the surface while hunting, allowing the surface-feeding storm petrels to reach them.

[23] Some species, like Tristram's storm petrel, are thought to be essentially sedentary and do not undertake any migrations away from their breeding islands.

[26] Storm petrels nest either in burrows dug into soil or sand, or in small crevices in rocks and scree.

Studies of paternity using DNA fingerprinting have shown that, unlike many other monogamous birds, infidelity (extra-pair mating) is very rare.

Meals fed to the chick weigh around 10–20% of the parent's body weight, and consist of both prey items and stomach oil.

The Guadalupe storm petrel was driven to extinction by feral cats,[36] and introduced predators have also been responsible for declines in other species.

Habitat degradation, which limits nesting opportunities, caused by introduced goats and pigs is also a problem, especially if it increases competition from more aggressive burrowing petrels.

From the base of the wave to the billow’s crown... Outflying the blast and the driving rain, The petrel telleth her tale — in vain!

Breton folklore holds that storm petrels are the spirits of sea-captains who mistreated their crew, doomed to spend eternity flying over the sea, and they are also held to be the souls of drowned sailors.

[40] Sinister names from Britain and France include waterwitch, satanite, satanique, and oiseau du diable.

In "Song of the Stormy Petrel", Gorki turned to the imagery of subantarctic avifauna to describe Russian society's attitudes to the coming revolution.

To honour Gorky and his work, the name Burevestnik was bestowed on a variety of institutions, locations, and products in the USSR.

[54] Writing in 1936, Emma Goldman referred to Buenaventura Durruti as "this stormy petrel of the anarchist and revolutionary movement".