The Thick-billed Raven is omnivorous, feeding on grubs, beetle larvae from animal dung, carrion, scraps of meat and human food.

Corvids are the largest of passerines, particularly the large races of the Common Raven (Corvus corax) and the Northeast African Thick-billed Raven (C. crassirostris).

The White-necked Raven has a much shorter tail than the Common Raven, as well as a deeper bill with a white tip that is almost as strongly arched as that of the Thick-billed Raven.

It is one of the two largest corvids, alongside the Thick-billed Raven, and is possibly the heaviest passerine bird; at maturity, the Common Raven averages 63 centimetres (25 inches) in length and 1.2 kilograms (2.6 pounds) in mass.

The Thick-billed Raven (Corvus crassirostris), a Corvid from the Horn of Africa, shares with the Common Raven the distinction of being the largest in the Corvid family, and indeed the largest of the most diverse bird order, the passerines.