In Genesis, Noah first sent a raven out from the Ark 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, beginning the better-known sequence in which the dove eventually returned with an olive leaf.
This order is often remembered incorrectly because the dove and olive leaf are the most familiar symbols from the story. The raven is nevertheless the first bird explicitly released in the Genesis account. Genesis does not say that the raven carried a message or returned with a particular object.
The bird episodes are part of the narrative’s signs that the flood landscape was becoming habitable again. They should not be merged into one event: the raven comes first, followed by the dove’s separate flights.