Noah’s first bird sent from the Ark to investigate the receding Flood waters was a raven.
Genesis 8:7 says Noah sent out a raven after the waters began to recede. The raven went back and forth until the waters dried from the earth. Noah then sent a dove, which returned because it found no place to rest. A second dove flight produced an olive leaf, and a later release showed that the ground had dried.
This sequence is frequently simplified in popular retellings, which sometimes mention only the dove. The raven is nevertheless the first bird named in the Genesis passage. The two birds serve related but distinct roles in the story’s observation of changing conditions outside the Ark.
The account’s olive leaf became a widely recognized symbol of peace and renewal, but that symbolism is later cultural interpretation. In the biblical narrative itself, the leaf is practical evidence that vegetation had reappeared and that the waters were receding.