It was so quiet you could hear [the] chirping of [the] birds.

Hello.

All the three sentences below pertain to a situation where a receiver is not familiar with the subject, so in short it is first mention.
Could you please comment on my interpretations?
Which one would you use in this context?

1) It was so quiet you could hear chirping of birds.
'Birds' and their 'chirping' is not known to a receiver, so it might make sense to put it this way, however, it somehow sounds unnatural for me...

2) It was so quiet you could hear the chirping of birds.
'Chirping' belongs to 'birds', which kind of makes it specific. Similarly like 'the shadow of something'.

3) It was so quiet you could hear the chirping of the birds.
It is implied that 'birds' mean 'the birds around the speaker' in the described situation, similarly their 'chirping'.