The Goldfinch & DistelFink

Howdy Friends,

The Goldfinch & DistelFink. I’ve long wanted to write about the spirited and lovely goldfinch, that sweet little yellow bird found in open fields and bird feeders all across our land. The poet T.S. Eliot wrote what pleasure it is to, “Follow the dance of the goldfinch at noon.” Year round residents for most of us this tiny burst of excited sunshine is often the first bird many amateur birders learn to identify. At feeders they love thistle seeds, in the wild they love seeds of every tiny variety. Nesting late in the mid-summer their preferred nesting material is thistledown, and can often be spied darting from thistle bloom to thistle bloom gathering fluffy down.

The American Goldfinch.

Growing up PA Dutch on a humble and, very old fashioned dairy farm, I spent many a hot summer day walking fields and pastures with a sickle cutting down tall Canadian thistle plants, and enjoyed repeated sweet encounters with frisky goldfinches as they gathered down, gobbled seeds and chattered. So many of my lonely childhood days in summer fields laid the foundation of my bird watching love. And the goldfinch is one of my earliest feathered friends. My understanding of their connection to the ever popular DistelFink is rooted in my PA Dutch youth as well.

Hex Sign with DistelFink, tulips and heart. All bring good luck and happiness.

While most folks understand the Hex-Sign (another PA Dutch tradition) as symbols of good luck, protection and happiness, not very many grasp the DistelFink origin, name and importance. In PA Dutch the tiny yellow bird is known as the “thistle finch,” pronounced in PA Dutch as “distel-fink.” Understood by PA Dutch folks as a symbol of the good luck, the goldfinch was a welcomed sight. It’s highly likely then that the “English” folks misunderstood the pronunciation of “Thistle Finch,” (“distel-fink” by PA Dutch folks) gave birth to the name of the most familiar little bird painted on most PA Dutch Hex Signs. In your travels keep your eyes peeled for this tiny golden burst of happiness and luck.

 ~ Gitty Up, Dutch.