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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 46.9346, -122.5490

Estimated forage here is better than about 84% of sites in Washington. Against other Washington sites it stands out most in spring (84th percentile) and lowest in summer (49th). Biggest nearby bee crops: sweet corn (nearest 0.6 mi SE, grown 1 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.6 mi SE, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, less than 0.1 mi away. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 97th percentile (spring 98th, summer 79th, fall 55th)
  • Washington: 84th percentile (spring 84th, summer 49th, fall 50th)
  • Puget Lowland: 37th percentile (spring 31st, summer 72nd, fall 89th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Feb 16 — Dandelion, Willows, Maples
  • Main flow: Mar 16 to Jun 30 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Summer-flowering shrubs
  • Season ends: Sep 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Sweet corn: about 8 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 3 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Sweet corn: about 7 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 3 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Sweet corn: about 3 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 2 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Summer-flowering shrubs, Maples; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Summer-flowering shrubs, Dandelion, Himalayan blackberry; light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Garden flowers, Dandelion, Spotted and diffuse knapweed; extra light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Summer-flowering shrubs, Maples; light amber

Things to watch

  • 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.