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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.

Or tap the map. We don't store your address or exact location.

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 38.6757, -121.9706

Estimated forage here is better than about 97% of sites in California. Against other California sites it stands out most in spring (94th percentile) and lowest in fall (7th). Biggest nearby bee crops: almonds (right here); sunflower (nearest 0.2 mi E, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.2 mi E, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.27 mi NE.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 100th percentile (spring 99th, summer 36th, fall 1st)
  • California: 97th percentile (spring 94th, summer 62nd, fall 7th)
  • Central California Valley: 82nd percentile (spring 79th, summer 68th, fall 30th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Feb 1 — Almonds
  • Main flow: Feb 16 to Mar 15 — Almonds
  • Season ends: Jun 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Almonds: about 563 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi , blooms early Feb – late Mar
  • Almonds: about 569 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi N, blooms early Feb – late Mar
  • Almonds: about 278 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi S, blooms early Feb – late Mar
  • Almonds: about 91 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi SW, blooms early Feb – late Mar
  • Almonds: about 1,029 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.8 mi NE, blooms early Feb – late Mar
  • Sunflower: about 42 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi NE, blooms late Apr – late Jun

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Sunflower, Almonds, Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Garden flowers, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Cucumbers; light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Garden flowers, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Sunflower, Almonds, Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red; 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.