Black-faced Sheathbills are terrestrial birds that forage in seabird colonies and along island shores.
Adults are all white except for a pink eye-ring and a black bill with facial caruncles. The adult bill has an upturned sheath; juveniles have a less developed sheath.
It is omnivorous, taking carrion, seabird eggs and chicks, intertidal algae and invertebrates, and other food around bird and seal colonies.
On the Prince Edward Islands, it nests in cavities under lava boulders or in small caves, and occasionally uses burrows of large petrels.
On the Prince Edward Islands, it breeds during the austral summer, returning to the same territories near seabird colonies and beginning nest building around October.
Males are larger than females, and the legs are mottled pink, purple, and black.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.