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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 46.5322, -120.8762

Estimated forage here is better than about 37% of sites in Washington. Against other Washington sites it stands out most in fall (88th percentile) and lowest in summer (22nd). Biggest nearby bee crops: apples (nearest 0.8 mi E); alfalfa (nearest 1.3 mi NE, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, less than 0.1 mi away. 2 things to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 68th percentile (spring 69th, summer 68th, fall 85th)
  • Washington: 37th percentile (spring 62nd, summer 22nd, fall 88th)
  • Columbia Plateau: 76th percentile (spring 88th, summer 59th, fall 87th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 16 — Willows, Dandelion
  • Main flow: Apr 16 to Jul 15 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Willows, Dandelion
  • Fall flow: Aug 1 to Sep 15 — Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Green/yellow rabbitbrush, Native wildflowers
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Apples: about 14 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi E, blooms early May – late May
  • Apples: about 341 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.7 mi E, blooms early May – late May
  • Apples: about 42 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.6 mi NE, blooms early May – late May
  • Apples: about 5 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi SW, blooms early May – late May
  • Apples: about 24 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.6 mi NE, blooms early May – late May
  • Alfalfa: about 24 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi NE, blooms late Jun – early Oct

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Willows, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Native wildflowers; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Snowberry, Native wildflowers, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Green/yellow rabbitbrush, Rubber rabbitbrush, Clovers: white, alsike and red; amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Willows, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Native wildflowers; light amber

Things to watch

  • Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Apples: insecticides used on about 76% of acres in Washington (2025). Figures are from USDA's Agricultural Chemical Use Survey, matched by crop type from the crop map. The survey counts any insecticide use in the crop year (not seed treatments) and doesn't say when; ask nearby growers about spray timing.
  • Near a FEMA high-risk flood zone. A mapped high-risk flood zone (AE) is within about 300 m. Check FEMA's map for the exact spot.

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.