After the raven, Noah released a dove in Genesis to test whether the floodwaters had receded.
Genesis 8:8 says Noah sent out a dove to see whether the waters had subsided from the surface of the ground. The dove found nowhere to rest and returned to him in the Ark. Noah waited seven days and sent it out again; it returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf.
After another seven days, Noah sent the dove out once more, and it did not return. This three-stage sequence is different from the raven’s earlier release. The dove’s behavior provides the story’s clearest indication that vegetation and habitable land were reappearing.
The olive leaf is sometimes treated as a general symbol of peace, but in Genesis it first functions as evidence about the condition of the earth after the Flood. The text specifically names a dove, not a generic white bird.