The species is a very distinctive member of the storm petrel family, with a dark cap, white face and underparts, forked tail and a black band across the chest.

The ringed storm petrel was formally described in 1854 by the English zoologist George Gray and given the binomial name Thalassidroma hornbyi.

He chose the specific epithet to honour Admiral Sir Phipps Hornby who had obtained the specimen.

The birds are thought to breed between March and July, as this is when fledglings are regularly seen at sea around Lima, Peru, and Antofagasta, Chile.

The breed's first documented nest was found by a group of volunteer naturalists in the Atacama Desert in April 2017.