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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 47.1628, -122.0199

Estimated forage here is better than about 81% of sites in Washington. Against other Washington sites it stands out most in spring (81st percentile) and lowest in summer (48th). Biggest nearby bee crops: caneberries (nearest 0.8 mi E); corn (nearest 1.3 mi NW, grown 2 of the last 5 years); pumpkins (nearest 1.1 mi E, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.25 mi SE. 2 things to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 95th percentile (spring 98th, summer 79th, fall 59th)
  • Washington: 81st percentile (spring 81st, summer 48th, fall 55th)
  • Puget Lowland: 29th percentile (spring 23rd, summer 69th, fall 94th)

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

Bee crops nearby

  • Caneberries: about 2 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi E, blooms early Mar – early Jul
  • Caneberries: about 1 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi E, blooms early Mar – early Jul
  • Corn: about 12 acres in a typical year, nearest 2 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 4 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 8 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.8 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Pumpkins: about 1 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi E, blooms early Jun – early Oct

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): Summer-flowering shrubs, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Garden flowers; 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

  • Heavily developed. About 61% of the land within a mile is developed. Less room for forage, and more neighbors near the hives.
  • Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Caneberries: raspberries: insecticides used on about 99% of acres in Washington (2023); Caneberries: blackberries: insecticides used on about 60% of surveyed US acres (2017); Pumpkins: insecticides used on about 75% of surveyed US acres (2024). 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.
  • 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.