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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 38.8099, -119.8050

Estimated forage here is better than about 40% of sites in California. Against other California sites it stands out most in fall (94th percentile) and lowest in spring (38th). Biggest nearby bee crops: alfalfa (nearest 1.4 mi E, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.13 mi NE.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 38th percentile (spring 53rd, summer 55th, fall 62nd)
  • California: 40th percentile (spring 38th, summer 80th, fall 94th)
  • Sierra Nevada: 49th percentile (spring 51st, summer 59th, fall 95th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Apr 1 — Dandelion, Spring-flowering shrubs
  • Main flow: May 1 to Jul 15 — Spring-flowering shrubs, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Summer-flowering shrubs
  • Fall flow: Aug 1 to Aug 31 — Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Green/yellow rabbitbrush
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Alfalfa: about 39 acres in a typical year, nearest 2 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 9 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.5 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 6 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 13 acres in a typical year, nearest 2 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 3 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 10 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.2 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

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