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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 47.2816, -114.1638

Estimated forage here is better than about 98% of sites in Montana. Against other Montana sites it stands out most in spring and summer (98th percentile) and lowest in fall (46th). Biggest nearby bee crops: alfalfa (nearest 1.0 mi NE, grown 1 of the last 5 years); peas (nearest 1.7 mi E, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.25 mi NE.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 86th percentile (spring 56th, summer 88th, fall 82nd)
  • Montana: 98th percentile (spring 98th, summer 98th, fall 46th)
  • Northern Rockies: 94th percentile (spring 71st, summer 96th, fall 89th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Apr 1 — Willows, Dandelion, Native wildflowers
  • Main flow: May 16 to Jul 31 — Snowberry, Native wildflowers
  • Fall flow: Aug 16 to Aug 31 — Snowberry, Spotted and diffuse knapweed
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Alfalfa: about 44 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi E, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 95 acres in a typical year, nearest 2 mi E, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 262 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.9 mi NE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 224 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.2 mi NE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 4 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi E, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 9 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.8 mi NE, blooms early Jul – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

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