Snowy Owl

We were excited this afternoon by a bird-club email about a Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) about 15 miles north of us in Deerfield MA. Marylee drove us up there, and we found it immediately--a long way away. I did get this shot, severely cropped (161 meters distant, according to my camera). The best shot I've had--if it's still around we may return tomorrow. My best guess is that it's an immature male. View it large. The map shows a pretty good location.

Best link I've found on these owls is this--if you page down a bit, you come to a brief slide show, which was what helped me identify this as an immature male. An adult male would be all white, a female would have many more darker markings.

Edit (1/1/14): Here's a link to Project SNOWstorm , which has just been established to follow this winter's extraordinary southward eruption of snowy owls, which stretches from Minnesota to Newfoundland and as far south as Florida and Bermuda. It apparently is due to a huge abundance of food for the owls (voles and lemmings) in summer 2013 in the far north; this led to a large number of eggs and young birds, many of whom have come south this winter. They tend to be healthy and not have come particularly in search of food.