The account of Noah sending out the two birds occurs in Genesis 8, after the ark had come to rest on the top of Mount Ararat:
Genesis 8:6 At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made 7 and sent out the raven, and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out the dove from him to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground, 9 but the dove found no place to set its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark with him. 10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark, 11 and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 12 Then he waited another seven days and sent out the dove, and it did not return to him any more . (NRSV UE)
The suggestion is that when the raven ceased circling then that would indicate that it had found carrion or any remaining live food on the mountain tops. A bird like a dove would require vegetation. Doves also are known for eating leaf shoots and flower buds, so the return of the dove on its second flight with a fresh olive leaf sprout would indicate to Noah that vegetation had started to bud, but was not yet enough for the dove to find a roost or sustain itself. Likewise that the dove did not return from its third flight was a sign to Noah that vegetation had begun to reestablish itself enough to release the herbivores on the ark.
This is a nature-based explanation. Obviously others have explored the symbology of the raven representing death returning first into the new post-flood world, and the dove, and the olive leaf as a sign of new life.
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