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.

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 38.6890, -120.0553

Estimated forage here is better than about 27% of sites in California. Against other California sites it stands out most in fall (85th percentile) and lowest in spring (8th). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

Continental US: 14th percentile (spring 5th, summer 54th, fall 51st)
California: 27th percentile (spring 8th, summer 80th, fall 85th)
Sierra Nevada: 22nd percentile (spring 17th, summer 58th, fall 86th)

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, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar)
Main flow: Jun 1 to Aug 15 — Spring-flowering shrubs, Kinnikinnick, Summer-flowering shrubs
Season ends: Oct 31

What the honey would be made of

Spring honey (March to June): Kinnikinnick, Spring-flowering shrubs, Dandelion, Native wildflowers; light amber
Summer honey (July and August): Spring-flowering shrubs, Summer-flowering shrubs, Kinnikinnick, Native wildflowers; light amber
Fall honey (September to November): Summer-flowering shrubs, Native wildflowers, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Wild buckwheats of the steppe; light amber
Whole season (March to November): Spring-flowering shrubs, Kinnikinnick, Summer-flowering shrubs, Native wildflowers; 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.