Antonio Vivaldi took four Sonnets, apparently written by himself. Each of the four sonnets is expressed in a concerto, which in turn is divided into three phrases or ideas, reflected in the three movements (fast-slow-fast) of each concerto.
Summer describes the song of the cuckoo, the turtledove and the finch.

Sergei Prokofiev.
This story tells of how  Peter ventures into a meadow (which his grandfather has made off-limits to him) and together with his animal friends (a bird, a cat and a duck) catches a wolf.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Tamino is presented with a magic flute, to give alarm and invoke assistance in cases of peril. Papageno, the bird-catcher, who accompanies him, is furnished with musical instruments which, when played, transform anger into laughter and provoke a desire for dancing.

In The Lark Ascending, Vaughan Williams found inspiration in a poem by the English poet George Meredith (1828-1909).

Olivier Messiaen composed in the third movement the 'Abyss of the birds.' Clarinet alone. The abyss is Time with its sadness, its weariness. The birds are the opposite to Time; they are our desire for light, for stars, for rainbows, and for jubilant songs.

Clément Janequin. The programmatic chansons for which Janequin is famous were long, sectional pieces, and usually cleverly imitated natural or man-made sounds. Le chant des oiseaux imitates bird-calls.