In Genesis, Noah sent out a raven before he sent the dove. Genesis 8:7 says the raven went back and forth until the waters had dried from the earth, after which Noah began the sequence involving the dove.
The raven and dove serve different narrative functions. The raven’s movements do not provide Noah with a clear, stated sign of dry land. The dove’s returns are more informative: it first comes back because it finds no resting place, then returns with an olive leaf, and finally does not return after a later release.
Some readers assume the dove was the first bird because it is the better-known symbol in the story. The order in Genesis is raven first, dove afterward. Biblical translations may differ slightly in how they phrase the raven’s repeated flight, but they preserve the same sequence and identify the first released bird as a raven.