Bee forage check

How good is this spot for honey bees?

Enter an address or tap the map. You'll see which bee plants and crops are within flight range (about 3.7 miles, with nearer land counting more), when the honey flow comes and when there's a dearth, nearby water, a few things worth checking, and how the spot ranks against random sites in your state and across the country.

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Forage on the map in —

National map

The colors are the national forage map: every square kilometer of the lower 48, scored the same way. See the honey flow for your state and town, the best and worst spots we found, or how the scoring works.

Forage report for 32.8679, -86.0462

Estimated forage here is better than about 21% of sites in Alabama. Against other Alabama sites it ranks highest in summer (33rd percentile) and lowest in fall (17th). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.1 mi N. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

Continental US: 28th percentile (spring 69th, summer 13th, fall 2nd)
Alabama: 21st percentile (spring 31st, summer 33rd, fall 17th)
Piedmont: 8th percentile (spring 10th, summer 7th, fall 7th)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Alabama, scored the same way; land in general, not beekeepers' yards.

Season

First forage: Jan 1 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Dandelion
Main flow: Feb 16 to May 31 — Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Summer-flowering shrubs
Fall flow: Jun 16 to Jun 30 — Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Summer-flowering shrubs
Season ends: Aug 15

What the honey would be made of

Spring honey (March to June): Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Summer-flowering shrubs, Clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber
Summer honey (July and August): Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); extra light amber
Fall honey (September to November): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Garden flowers; amber
Whole season (March to November): Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Summer-flowering shrubs, Clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber

Things to watch

Near a FEMA high-risk flood zone. A mapped high-risk flood zone (A) is within about 300 m. Check FEMA's map for the exact spot.

An estimate from public maps (USDA crop maps 2021-2025 averaged, LANDFIRE vegetation), not a survey of the ground. Maps can't see garden plantings, understory density, other beekeepers' hives, or this year's weather. Honey composition is a nectar-source estimate, not a pollen analysis. Benchmark 2026.5. How this works.