In Genesis, a dove returned to Noah carrying a freshly plucked olive leaf. The detail appears in Genesis 8:11, after Noah had first released a raven and then sent out the dove to test whether the floodwaters had receded.
The olive leaf showed that vegetation was visible above the waters, giving Noah evidence that the land was becoming habitable. The dove later failed to return when Noah sent it out again, suggesting that it had found a place to rest. The sequence is therefore more specific than the general image of a bird returning to the ark.
The olive branch or olive leaf later became a widely recognized symbol of peace, although its modern symbolic use developed through broader religious, artistic, and cultural traditions. In the biblical account, the immediate function is practical: the leaf signals the changing condition of the earth. The bird in this scene is specifically a dove, not the raven released earlier.