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 39.4678, -120.8390

Estimated forage here is better than about 44% of sites in California. Against other California sites it stands out most in summer (59th percentile) and lowest in fall (12th). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

Continental US: 44th percentile (spring 80th, summer 34th, fall 3rd)
California: 44th percentile (spring 54th, summer 59th, fall 12th)
Sierra Nevada: 59th percentile (spring 71st, summer 32nd, fall 8th)

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

Season

First forage: Mar 1 — Kinnikinnick, Maples, Dandelion
Main flow: Mar 16 to Jun 15 — Kinnikinnick, Oregon grape, Snowberry
Season ends: Aug 15

What the honey would be made of

Spring honey (March to June): Kinnikinnick, Snowberry, Oregon grape, Ceanothus: redstem; light amber
Summer honey (July and August): Snowberry, Summer-flowering shrubs, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Dandelion; light amber
Fall honey (September to November): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Garden flowers; light amber
Whole season (March to November): Kinnikinnick, Snowberry, Oregon grape, Ceanothus: redstem; 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.