In Genesis, Noah first sent a raven from the Ark after the mountain tops appeared.
Genesis 8:6–7 says that Noah opened the ark's window after 40 days and sent out a raven. The raven flew back and forth until the waters had dried from the Earth. Noah then sent a dove to test whether the waters had receded from the ground.
The dove became the more famous bird in the story because it returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf, a sign that vegetation had reappeared. When the dove did not return after a later release, Noah understood that the land was becoming habitable. The raven and dove therefore have different narrative roles.
Readers sometimes remember only the dove and overlook the raven's earlier mission. The sequence is explicit in Genesis: raven first, dove afterward. The passage also does not say that the raven returned to Noah's hand, unlike the dove in its first two flights.