In the Genesis account of Noah’s Ark, the first bird Noah sent out after the Flood was a raven.
Genesis 8:6–7 says that after forty days Noah opened the window of the Ark and sent out a raven. The raven went to and fro until the waters had dried from the earth. Noah then sent a dove to check whether the waters had receded.
The dove is more widely remembered because it later returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf, but it was not the first bird released. The raven therefore provides a useful distinction between two related details in the same chapter.
Genesis describes the birds as part of Noah’s efforts to determine whether the ground was habitable. The raven and dove are not interchangeable in the narrative: the raven appears first, while the dove’s repeated flights provide the more familiar signs of receding water.