Mozart was a very famous musician. He used to have a pet starling whom he considered his musical companion. (Starlings are small birds.) Mozart loved the bird's song so much that he rewrote part of his music to match the song of the starling.

Starlings are amazing. They have a two-part syrinx or voice organ that enables them to belt out two songs at the same time!

The twentieth-century French composer Olivier Messiaen composed a seven-book set of piano pieces based upon birdsong.

The opening notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, which is one of the most well-known of his works, come from the song of a white-breasted wood wren.

My favourite is a wonderful CD I bought 15 years ago called Gorillas in the Mix which is music synthesized from bird songs and animal drumbeats.

Magpie larks sing a duet. One bird utters a loud metallic "tee-hee" that is immediately followed by the other's "pee-o-wee, pee-o-wit". The pair is so co- ordinated that the whole thing sounds like one song.

The white-crested laughing thrushes sing a group chorus. Each individual has its own phrase to contribute to the song: the result is like one bird singing.

Many bird species keep reinventing their song. New syllables and phrases or even whole new songs may be produced in each successive season by nightingales and canaries.

The brown thrasher holds the record, with close to 2,000 songs, and never the same one twice.

It is not true that birds sing only to guard territory, give alarm calls or attract mates. Research has proved that the most beautiful songs are sung by birds when they are alone and expressing themselves.

I am one of the luckiest people on the planet. My house resonates all day long with the music of birds.

Why not plant a few trees outside your house and leave food and water for the birds that make their nests in them. You can create your orchestra too.