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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 42.8491, -75.2334

Estimated forage here is better than about 74% of sites in New York. Against other New York sites it stands out most in summer (86th percentile) and lowest in spring (41st). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.3 mi S, grown 3 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.3 mi S, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.8 mi NW, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 66th percentile (spring 59th, summer 77th, fall 63rd)
  • New York: 74th percentile (spring 41st, summer 86th, fall 75th)
  • Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands: 44th percentile (spring 33rd, summer 65th, fall 59th)

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 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Dandelion
  • Main flow: Apr 16 to Aug 31 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Soybeans
  • Season ends: Oct 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 743 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi NW, blooms late Jul – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 42 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi NW, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Corn: about 68 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi W, blooms late Jul – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 19 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi NE, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Corn: about 27 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi NE, blooms late Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 161 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi NE, 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), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden); light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Soybeans, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Alfalfa, Summer-flowering shrubs; white
  • Fall honey (September to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Alfalfa, Soybeans; extra light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Soybeans, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar); extra 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.