Noah sent a dove from the Ark, and it later returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf.
Genesis 8 describes Noah testing whether the floodwaters had receded. After an initial release, he sent the dove again. It returned in the evening carrying an olive leaf, providing a sign that vegetation had reappeared above the waters.
The episode is often remembered as a general symbol of peace, but its immediate function in Genesis is practical: the bird’s return and the leaf showed Noah that conditions outside the Ark were changing. He sent the dove once more, and it did not return.
The raven appears earlier in the same chapter, so the birds are sometimes confused. The raven and the dove are separate parts of Noah’s search for dry land, and only the dove is associated with the olive leaf.