In the Genesis story of Noah's Ark, what did the returning dove carry?

In the Genesis story of Noah’s Ark, the returning dove carried a freshly plucked olive leaf.

Noah sent the dove after releasing a raven. On its first flight, the dove returned because it found no place to rest. On the second flight, it came back in the evening carrying an olive leaf, showing that the waters had fallen enough for vegetation to appear. Noah released it again later, and it did not return.

This scene helped make the dove and olive branch widely recognized symbols of peace, hope, and the end of catastrophe. In everyday speech, people often say “olive branch,” although Genesis specifically describes an olive leaf carried by the dove.

The passage is also a practical narrative signal: new plant growth indicates that the Flood waters were receding. The biblical account therefore uses the bird’s behavior to mark a major change in the story.