Recently, while taking the little one out for a walk, I was treated by the call of a famous bird in Japan called the Uguisu (鶯), better known as the Japanese Bush Warbler in ornithology. This bird is well known for its beautiful call which sounds like hooo-ho-KE-kyo in Japanese, and in Japanese Buddhist culture its call brought to mind the famous Lotus Sutra which is called hokekyō (法華経) in Japanese language. So the Uguisu is a kind of “Buddhist Bird”. 
Because I usually go to Japan in the dead of winter, to save on airfare, I never get to see cherry blossoms or hear bird calls, but today was a nice treat. The Uguisu really does sound like its saying “ho-ke-kyo”! If you ever come in spring to Japan, see if you can hear a Uguisu nearby. It’s a nice experience. 
The Uguisu is frequently mentioned in Japanese literature as well, including poetry and writings from the ancient Heian court. While reading Sei Shōnagon’s “the Pillow book“, she reflects on the Uguisu:
The uguisu is made out to be a wonderful bird in Chinese poetry, and both its voice and its appearance are really so enchanting that it’s very unseemly of it not to sing inside the grounds of our ‘nine-fold palace’. People did tell me this was so but I couldn’t believe it, yet during my ten years in the palace I did indeed never hear it once. (section 38, trans. Meredith McKinney)
Hello, this blog is about my life as a father, Buddhist and Japanophile / Koreaphile. Any useful information I can pass along will hopefully make the 
Nice post. There another Buddhist bird in Japan called ‘buppousou’, which means the Bhudda, the Dharma, the Sangha, and it gets that name because of it’s call.
Maybe the birds are trying to tell us something…
Stephen
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%96%E3%83%83%E3%83%9D%E3%82%A6%E3%82%BD%E3%82%A6
I should have mentioned that although ‘buppousou’ was named was named after the birds cry, it is in fact a different species of bird that makes that call, an owl.
Maybe that is the true “Buddha bird”, spreading the word but recieving no acclaim.
Stephen
Ha ha ha, good to know about the Bupposo. Something you said earlier in the first comment reminded me of this passage from the Amitabha Sutra:
“Furthermore, Shariputra, in the land of Ultimate Bliss there are various birds of brilliant coloring, such as white egrets, peacocks, parrots, sharikas, kalavinkas, and jivamjivakas. The birds sing six times a day in exquisite voices. Their very singing expresses Amitabha’s teachings, such as the Five Roots of Goodness, the Five Powers, the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, and the Noble Eightfold Path. When the people of the land of Ultimate Bliss hear the bird’s voices, all of their thoughts are dedicated to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.