Scopoli did not mention a type locality but this was designated in 1946 by the British Ornithologists' Union as the Tremiti Islands in the Adriatic.

[2][3] Scopoli's shearwater is now placed in the genus Calonectris that was introduced in 1915 by the ornithologists Gregory Mathews and Tom Iredale.

His wife was serially unfaithful while he fought at Troy, so he left to found a city in Italy.

Based on the lack of hybridization and differences in mitochondrial DNA, morphology and vocalization, the complex was split into two separate species.

[5][9][10] The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology will join them as of their October 2025 update to The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World.

The largest colony is on the rocky island of Zembra, 13 km (8.1 mi) off the Tunisian coast.

[18] At the end of October, after the breeding season, Scopoli's shearwaters migrate to the Atlantic and stream out of the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Studies using light level geolocators have found that birds tagged either on the island of Linosa or on the Pantaleu islet in the Balearic Islands wintered in regions associated with major upwellings in the south east Atlantic.

Sometimes it will follows whales and tuna to pick up food scraps and to catch small fish driven to the surface.