In Genesis, a dove returns to Noah’s Ark carrying a freshly plucked olive leaf. Noah sends the dove after the raven, and the leaf shows that vegetation has reappeared above the receding Flood waters.
The dove first returns without a leaf because it cannot find a place to rest. Noah waits seven days and sends it out again. On this second release, the bird comes back in the evening with the olive leaf. After another seven-day interval, Noah sends it out again, and it does not return.
This episode became one of the most recognizable images associated with the Ark. A dove with an olive branch is widely used as a symbol of peace, although that broader symbolism developed through later religious and cultural traditions rather than being the sole meaning of the Genesis passage.
Genesis does not say that the dove was white, a detail frequently added in paintings, films, and decorative imagery. The text identifies the bird as a dove and emphasizes what it brings back.