According to Genesis, Noah first sent a raven after the Flood waters began to recede.
Genesis 8:6–7 says that Noah opened the Ark's window after forty days and sent out a raven. The raven went back and forth until the waters had dried from the Earth. Noah then sent a dove to test whether the ground had become visible, creating the better-known sequence of bird tests.
The raven is often overlooked because the dove's return with an olive leaf became the most recognizable image from the story. Genesis presents the two birds as serving different stages of Noah's search for dry land. The text does not say that the raven returned into the Ark in the same explicit way as the dove.
Later art and retellings may show only the dove. That emphasis does not change the order in Genesis: the raven comes first, followed by the dove on several flights.