In Genesis, Noah first sent out a raven to test the flood conditions.
Genesis 8:7 says Noah sent a raven after the ark came to rest and the waters began to recede. The bird went back and forth until the waters had dried from the earth. Noah then sent a dove on separate occasions to see whether it could find a place to rest.
This sequence is often compressed in popular retellings, which may mention only the dove and omit the raven. The raven episode comes first in the biblical text, while the dove’s later return with an olive leaf supplies the more familiar image of renewed land.
The passage does not say that the raven brought Noah a branch or leaf. That detail belongs to the dove episode, and the two birds have different roles in the narrative.