After lots of suggestion and more Google image searching, it was a male
purple finch. Not enough white on the wings for a crossbill. I have so very
rarely seen a purple finch up close that I didn't realize they were that
big! The books also showed them with a lighter bill, but some of the photos
showed a heavy bill starting higher on the forehead. And the deciding mark
was the striping under the wings, which is visible on some of the google
images.
It looked pretty much like this guy here
http://thy-darkest-hour.deviantart.com/art/Purple-Finch-02-293034338
Thanks all-I'm pretty excited about purple finches too!
Leslie
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