Arcadia Bees
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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.

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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 42.5423, -77.9537

Estimated forage here is better than about 59% of sites in New York. Against other New York sites it stands out most in summer (85th percentile) and lowest in spring (15th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.1 mi NW, grown 3 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.1 mi NW); soybeans (nearest 0.2 mi NE, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 59th percentile (spring 49th, summer 76th, fall 66th)
  • New York: 59th percentile (spring 15th, summer 85th, fall 81st)
  • Northern Allegheny Plateau: 85th percentile (spring 23rd, summer 91st, fall 83rd)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 16 — Dandelion, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar)
  • Main flow: May 1 to Aug 31 — Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion
  • Season ends: Oct 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 116 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NE, blooms late Jul – late Aug
  • Corn: about 73 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi E, blooms late Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 72 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi N, blooms late Jun – early Sep
  • Corn: about 31 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi NW, blooms late Jul – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 19 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi W, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 13 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi NW, blooms late Jun – early Sep

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Alfalfa; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Alfalfa, Soybeans, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Summer-flowering shrubs; white
  • Fall honey (September to November): Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Soybeans; extra light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Soybeans; extra light amber

Things to watch

  • No digital FEMA flood map here. FEMA has no digital flood map for this area. Ask the county, and look for low ground near creeks before placing hives.

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.