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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 47.2270, -109.7126

Estimated forage here is better than about 26% of sites in Montana. Against other Montana sites it ranks highest in spring (42nd percentile) and lowest in fall (18th). Biggest nearby bee crops: lentils (right here, grown 1 of the last 5 years); canola (nearest 1.0 mi SE, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.2 mi NW, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.42 mi NW.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 23rd percentile (spring 23rd, summer 60th, fall 67th)
  • Montana: 26th percentile (spring 42nd, summer 39th, fall 18th)
  • Northwestern Great Plains: 27th percentile (spring 25th, summer 57th, fall 5th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Apr 1 — Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Dandelion
  • Main flow: May 16 to Aug 31 — Alfalfa, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Lentils
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Lentils: about 61 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Lentils: about 16 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Canola: about 11 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi SE, blooms early May – late Jul
  • Alfalfa: about 25 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi W, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 21 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi NW, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Lentils: about 49 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Jul

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Dandelion, Lentils, Clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Alfalfa, Lentils, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); white
  • Fall honey (September to November): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Alfalfa, Spotted and diffuse knapweed; light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Alfalfa, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Lentils, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); extra light amber

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.