In the Genesis account, a raven was the first bird Noah sent out from the Ark.
Genesis 8:7 says Noah sent out a raven after the rain and rising waters had begun to subside. The raven went back and forth until the waters dried from the earth. Noah then sent a dove to test whether the surface had become habitable.
The dove episode is more prominent in popular retellings because it returns with a freshly plucked olive leaf and later does not return. That imagery has become a widely recognized symbol of peace and renewed life. Nevertheless, the raven is named first in the biblical sequence.
The raven and dove are not interchangeable details. The story uses them as separate tests at different moments: the raven is dispatched first, while the dove provides the recognizable sign that vegetation has reappeared. Paintings and children’s books sometimes focus almost entirely on the dove and omit the earlier raven.