'Rumor in the air'
Eastern bluebird.
"In New York and New England the sap starts up in the sugar maple the very day the bluebird arrives, and sugar-making (see below) begins forthwith. The bird is generally a mere disembodied voice; a rumor in the air for two or three days before it takes visible shape before you.''
-- The late John Burroughs, naturalist and essayist.
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Boiling off maple sap to make syrup in late winter and early spring.
The Green Mountain State is very proud of its maple-syrup sector.