The throat and upper breast have an oily brown gloss, while the rest of the bird is glossy black except for a distinctive white patch of feathers on the nape and onto the neck.

Its range covers Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia; its habitat includes mountains and high plateaux between elevations of 1,500 to 3,400 metres.

[7] The thick-billed raven is omnivorous, feeding on grubs, beetle larvae from animal dung, carrion, scraps of meat and human food.

In one case, thick-billed ravens were observed to vigorously displace predatory Verreaux's eagle owls from their nest area.

Like many corvids, the thick-billed raven is capable of vocal mimicry; however, this behaviour is rare in the wild, and is normally recorded only in captivity.