Snowy Owl id question

I took this photo over the weekend in central Kansas. It is the whitest Snowy Owl we have had yet this winter. I am curious if this is a male or female, and what age. I didn't get any other angles besides the 2 I am providing, and I wasn't near as close as I would have liked. Thank you.

#2

Rob -

Birds of North America says about Snowy Owl plumages, "The darkest males and the palest females are virtually alike in color, but the whitest birds, sometimes practically pure white, are always males, and the most heavily barred ones are always females" I'll guess second year male, not yet molted to adult plumage. But with the barring in the tail, it could very well be a female...

Thanks, Jim - by the "darkest, do they mean the colouring of the barrs?

Sandy

I'd agree with Jim that it is a male, I'm not too sure about age either. This link is kind of useful, if nothing else to show that caution is needed when trying to age and sex snowy owls in the field:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/snowy.htm

Pallid "dark markings" and pristine white flanks and breast also bespeak it's maletude!
Dave Graham
Estelline, SD

Thanks everybody. I was hoping it was a male, as we don't see many of those.