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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 47.3911, -119.4865

Estimated forage here is better than about 38% of sites in Washington. Against other Washington sites it stands out most in fall (84th percentile) and lowest in summer (25th). Biggest nearby bee crops: apples (nearest 1.3 mi SW); alfalfa (nearest 0.6 mi E); corn (nearest 0.8 mi E, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: pond, lake or river, less than 0.1 mi away. 2 things to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 69th percentile (spring 69th, summer 70th, fall 81st)
  • Washington: 38th percentile (spring 62nd, summer 25th, fall 84th)
  • Columbia Plateau: 78th percentile (spring 89th, summer 64th, fall 78th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 1 — Dandelion, Willows
  • Main flow: Apr 1 to Aug 31 — Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion
  • Fall flow: Sep 16 to Sep 30 — Alfalfa
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Apples: about 372 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi NW, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 421 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi SW, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Alfalfa: about 155 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi SE, blooms early Jun – late Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 53 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi E, blooms early Jun – late Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 208 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.6 mi S, blooms early Jun – late Sep
  • Corn: about 51 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi E, blooms early Jul – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

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