What did Noah first send out to test the receding waters?

Noah first sent out a raven to test the receding waters. Genesis 8:7 says he released the bird after the Ark came to rest and the waters began to decline.

The raven flew back and forth until the waters dried from the earth. Noah then sent a dove, which initially found no place to rest and returned to him. A later dove returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf, and a subsequent release showed that the ground had become habitable.

The raven and dove serve different roles in the sequence. Popular retellings sometimes mention only the dove because of its olive leaf, but Genesis explicitly places the raven first. The episode is part of the narrative’s careful account of how Noah learned that the Flood had ended.