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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 38.8927, -121.9743

Estimated forage here is better than about 95% of sites in California. Against other California sites it stands out most in spring (92nd percentile) and lowest in fall (24th). Biggest nearby bee crops: almonds (right here); sunflower (nearest 0.4 mi SW, grown 1 of the last 5 years); apples (nearest 0.7 mi N). Nearest mapped water: open water, 0.15 mi W. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 99th percentile (spring 99th, summer 27th, fall 8th)
  • California: 95th percentile (spring 92nd, summer 52nd, fall 24th)
  • Central California Valley: 77th percentile (spring 71st, summer 53rd, fall 60th)

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 4,847 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi NE, blooms early Feb – late Mar
  • Almonds: about 4,243 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi W, blooms early Feb – late Mar
  • Almonds: about 1,313 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi SW, blooms early Feb – late Mar
  • Sunflower: about 15 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi SW, blooms late Apr – late Jun
  • Almonds: about 913 acres in a typical year, nearest 2 mi SW, blooms early Feb – late Mar
  • Almonds: about 92 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi SE, blooms early Feb – late Mar

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Almonds, Sunflower, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Garden flowers, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion; light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Garden flowers, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Almonds, Sunflower, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber

Things to watch

  • Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Apples: insecticides used on about 77% of surveyed US acres (2025). Figures are from USDA's Agricultural Chemical Use Survey, matched by crop type from the crop map. The survey counts any insecticide use in the crop year (not seed treatments) and doesn't say when; ask nearby growers about spray timing.

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.