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 38.4732, -120.0516

Estimated forage here is better than about 35% of sites in California. Against other California sites it stands out most in summer (90th percentile) and lowest in spring (28th). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

Continental US: 24th percentile (spring 27th, summer 64th, fall 48th)
California: 35th percentile (spring 28th, summer 90th, fall 83rd)
Sierra Nevada: 36th percentile (spring 34th, summer 77th, fall 83rd)

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

Season

First forage: Apr 16 — Kinnikinnick, Dandelion, Spring-flowering shrubs
Main flow: May 16 to Jul 31 — Spring-flowering shrubs, Kinnikinnick, Summer-flowering shrubs
Season ends: Oct 15

What the honey would be made of

Spring honey (March to June): Spring-flowering shrubs, Kinnikinnick, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
Summer honey (July and August): Summer-flowering shrubs, Snowberry, Spring-flowering shrubs, Kinnikinnick; light amber
Fall honey (September to November): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Snowberry, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
Whole season (March to November): Spring-flowering shrubs, Kinnikinnick, Summer-flowering shrubs, Snowberry; light amber

Things to watch

Flood map not checked. FEMA's flood map service didn't answer. Check it directly.

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.