In the Genesis account, Noah first released a raven from the ark.
Genesis 8:7 says Noah sent out a raven after the waters began to subside. The raven flew back and forth until the waters dried from the earth. Noah then sent a dove on separate occasions to test whether the land had become habitable.
The raven is frequently displaced in popular retellings because the dove’s olive leaf became the story’s better-known image of returning life and peace. However, the narrative’s sequence is clear: raven first, dove afterward. The birds serve as Noah’s practical observations of the changing landscape, while later religious art often gives the dove a much larger symbolic role than the raven.