In the biblical story of Noah’s Ark, Noah sent out a raven first after the Flood.
Genesis 8 says that Noah opened the ark’s window and sent out a raven. The bird flew back and forth until the waters had dried from the earth. Noah later sent a dove to find out whether the floodwater had receded from the ground.
The raven is often overlooked because the dove becomes the better-known bird in the narrative. The dove returns with an olive leaf, providing Noah with a clear sign that vegetation had reappeared. Noah then sends the dove out again, and it does not return.
The sequence matters: the raven comes first, followed by the dove. Paintings and popular retellings sometimes focus only on the dove, but the biblical account explicitly names both birds and gives them different roles.