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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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 44.3672, -103.7712

Estimated forage here is better than about 3% of sites in South Dakota. Against other South Dakota sites it ranks highest in fall (19th percentile) and lowest in summer (8th). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

Continental US: 18th percentile (spring 21st, summer 49th, fall 65th)
South Dakota: 3rd percentile (spring 17th, summer 8th, fall 19th)
Middle Rockies: 21st percentile (spring 77th, summer 19th, fall 11th)

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

Season

First forage: Apr 1 — Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red
Main flow: May 16 to Sep 15 — Snowberry, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion
Season ends: Oct 31

What the honey would be made of

Spring honey (March to June): Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Smooth sumac, Snowberry; light amber
Summer honey (July and August): Snowberry, Sweet clovers, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion; extra light amber
Fall honey (September to November): Snowberry, Sweet clovers, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
Whole season (March to November): Snowberry, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Sweet clovers; 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.