It is moderately common between Carnarvon in the west, and Sydney in the east, although it has become scarce in some parts of the south-east, as a result of competition from the kelp gull, which has "self-introduced" since the 1940s.

Much larger than the ubiquitous silver gull, and nowhere near as common, Pacific gulls are usually seen alone or in pairs, loafing around the shoreline, steadily patrolling high above the edge of the water, or (sometimes) zooming high on the breeze to drop a shellfish or sea urchin onto rocks.

They also commonly eat Platycephalus bassensis (sand flatheads) and cephalopods, both of which are sourced from their regular consumption of waste from fish which have been cleaned on wharves and beaches.

[3] The Pacific gull was first described by English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 from a Thomas Watling drawing, where the local name had been recorded as Troo-gad-dill.

Both subspecies nest in pairs or loose colonies on offshore islands, making a cup of grasses and sticks in an exposed position, and laying two or three mottled brown eggs.