In the biblical account of Noah's Ark, Noah sent out a raven before the dove. Genesis 8 says he released the raven after the ark had come to rest and the floodwaters had begun to recede.
The raven is described as going back and forth until the waters dried up from the earth. Noah then sent a dove to test the condition of the land. The dove returned because it found nowhere to rest, later came back with an olive leaf, and finally did not return when released again.
This sequence makes the raven the first bird named as sent from the ark in Genesis. It is sometimes omitted in simplified retellings, which move directly from Noah opening the window to the better-known dove episode.
The story uses the birds as practical signs within the narrative, not as a modern scientific survey of the flood environment.