Bird songs, strengthen the bond of love and respect for Mother nature,' Apte said. He should know.

For nearly a decade now, the French-bearded ornithologist has been traipsing around the rugged Western Ghats region in his khakis, a haversack and a strange contraption that looks like a mobile satellite dish. 'It's a microphone, which has a reflector dish that enhances the bird sounds and gives us a better audio,' Apte said, adding that bird songs vary with situations and the hour of the day.

'Take for example the koel's song. On one hand the call allures the female and on the other, it warns opponent males against entering the singer's territory,' the ornithologist said. Apte claims that bird sounds in ancient India also inspired the generations of yore.

'Legend has it that a Saras crane's call of grief after the loss of his partner inspired Maharishi Valmiki to compose his epic Ramayana,' Apte said. 'Even today, thousands of spoken languages across the country are dotted with such folklores and songs,' he said.

The exhaustive collection, also available on CD, contains general information about the 240 bird species from the Western Ghats.

(Mayabhushan Nagvenkar can be contacted at mayabhushan.n@ians.in)