When the Sugar Bird Sings—A History of Maple Syrup in Lanark County is a rich documentation of the foundations of Lanark's thriving maple industry. It illustrates the tremendous hardships that pioneering women and men endured "under the broad canopy of the sky" in all sorts of spring weather as well as the joys of the spring task. This book is the product of years of research, hundreds of hours of interviews and many miles of exploring the sugar bushes and back roads of Lanark County. Claudia knew immediately she had the title for a book about sugar making when she heard a chance comment that, "It is time to tap the trees when you hear the sugar bird (saw-whet owl) sing." Replete with the anecdotes of long-time syrup makers, archival photographs of buckets and horse-drawn sleighs, and descriptions of modern pipeline operations, the pages seem to exude the intoxicating aromas of wood smoke and thick maple steam.