Panaji, Aug 26 - Now it won't take a sweaty, tiring, mosquito-bitten stakeout in the Western Ghats forests to hear the song of birds like the Drongo Cuckoo, the Pompadour Green Pigeon or the Grey-headed Bulbul.

After 10 years of jungle treks, enduring countless mosquito bites and tracking down the wide range of birds in the 60,000 sq km tropical hotspot, ornithologist Sharad Dutt Apte has 'burned' the sounds of nearly 240 birds, some commonly found, some rare, in an audio-visual documentary titled 'Birds of the Western Ghats'.

In his own words Apte, who hails from Sangli, in Maharashtra, describes himself as 'ornithologist who has recorded these calls with sophisticated equipments tramping through forests, mountains, rivers and lakes across the Western Ghats'.

'I have spent 20 years of my leisure time and resources studying birds and bird songs. The latter 10 years I spent recording their sounds,' Apte told IANS in an email interview. The documentary was released last month.

'Bird songs and calls are roughly classified by their purpose i.e. breeding songs and calls, alarm calls, rising and retiring call as well as calls for communications,' Apte said.

He is a firm believer that melodious bird songs are a 'superb means of awakening the masses to the cause of environment conservation'.

'It is an intrinsic sound of nature.