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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 39.1540, -90.1654

Estimated forage here is better than about 73% of sites in Illinois. Against other Illinois sites it stands out most in summer (75th percentile) and lowest in fall (21st). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi W, grown 1 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.1 mi W, grown 4 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.57 mi S.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 96th percentile (spring 20th, summer 98th, fall 7th)
  • Illinois: 73rd percentile (spring 31st, summer 75th, fall 21st)
  • Interior River Valleys and Hills: 86th percentile (spring 7th, summer 92nd, fall 9th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Apr 16 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion
  • Main flow: Jun 1 to Jul 31 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Aug 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 7,742 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi W, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Corn: about 11,534 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Soybeans: about 186 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi N, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 1,464 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi E, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 35 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi E, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 582 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.4 mi NE, blooms early Jun – early Aug

What the honey would be made of

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

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.