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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 47.4696, -116.8089

Estimated forage here is better than about 83% of sites in Idaho. Against other Idaho sites it stands out most in spring (95th percentile) and lowest in fall (11th). Biggest nearby bee crops: canola (nearest 2.3 mi SW, grown 2 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 1.8 mi SE, grown 4 of the last 5 years); chickpeas (nearest 2.2 mi S, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 69th percentile (spring 58th, summer 80th, fall 49th)
  • Idaho: 83rd percentile (spring 95th, summer 70th, fall 11th)
  • Northern Rockies: 53rd percentile (spring 75th, summer 22nd, fall 32nd)

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

Season

  • First forage: Apr 1 — Willows, Dandelion
  • Main flow: May 1 to Jul 15 — Snowberry, Serviceberry
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Canola: about 242 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.3 mi SW, blooms late Apr – early Jul
  • Alfalfa: about 73 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.4 mi SE, blooms late Jun – early Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 13 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.1 mi SE, blooms late Jun – early Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 6 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.8 mi SE, blooms late Jun – early Oct
  • Chickpeas: about 2 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.2 mi S, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 37 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.4 mi SE, blooms late Jun – early Oct

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Snowberry, Willows, Serviceberry, Native wildflowers; amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Snowberry, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Native wildflowers; 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, Willows, Serviceberry, Native wildflowers; 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.