After first sending out a raven, Noah sent a dove from the Ark in the Genesis flood narrative.
Genesis 8 describes Noah testing whether the floodwaters had receded. The raven flew back and forth, while Noah later sent a dove. On its first outing, the dove found no resting place and returned. After seven days, Noah sent it out again, and it came back with a freshly plucked olive leaf. After another seven days, Noah released it once more, and it did not return.
The dove and olive leaf became widely recognized symbols of peace, hope, and the end of danger. The passage itself presents them more specifically as evidence that dry land was becoming available.
The bird is sometimes loosely called a pigeon in everyday language, since doves and pigeons belong to the same bird family. However, the conventional English wording of Genesis identifies Noah’s bird as a dove.