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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 42.6782, -78.7796

Estimated forage here is better than about 78% of sites in New York. Against other New York sites it stands out most in fall (84th percentile) and lowest in spring (60th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.5 mi NW, grown 3 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.5 mi NW, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.6 mi W, grown 2 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 68th percentile (spring 66th, summer 74th, fall 67th)
  • New York: 78th percentile (spring 60th, summer 81st, fall 84th)
  • Northern Allegheny Plateau: 93rd percentile (spring 94th, summer 88th, fall 86th)

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: Apr 16 to Aug 15 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Soybeans
  • Season ends: Oct 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 87 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi W, blooms late Jul – late Aug
  • Corn: about 79 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi NW, blooms late Jul – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 10 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi NW, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Soybeans: about 30 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi NW, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Soybeans: about 32 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi W, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Corn: about 31 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi NW, blooms late Jul – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

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