In Great Britain a recent review left a single occurrence in 1859 as the only acceptable record of this bird.

The species also occurs as a vagrant in differing parts of the Indian Ocean, south of its normal range, and along the northern and eastern coasts of Africa, where it visits annually on an irregular basis.

Young birds attain largely grey upperparts quite rapidly, but they take four years to reach maturity.

This bird has a deep, rather nasal flight-call which resembles the call of the lesser black-backed gull.

The Pallas's gull is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.