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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Forage on the map in —

National map

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 47.9681, -118.9777

Estimated forage here is better than about 29% of sites in Washington. Against other Washington sites it stands out most in fall (66th percentile) and lowest in summer (21st). Biggest nearby bee crops: apples (nearest 3.7 mi SW); alfalfa (nearest 3.7 mi NE, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.16 mi NW.

Ranking

Continental US: 60th percentile (spring 64th, summer 67th, fall 67th)
Washington: 29th percentile (spring 56th, summer 21st, fall 66th)
Columbia Plateau: 68th percentile (spring 83rd, summer 58th, fall 43rd)

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

Season

First forage: Mar 16 — Dandelion, Maples, Clovers: white, alsike and red
Main flow: Apr 1 to Jul 31 — Snowberry, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion
Fall flow: Aug 16 to Aug 31 — Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Snowberry, Yellow starthistle
Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

Apples: about 3 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.7 mi SW, blooms late Apr – early May
Alfalfa: about 7 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.7 mi NE, blooms early Jun – early Oct

What the honey would be made of

Spring honey (March to June): Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Snowberry, Native wildflowers; light amber
Summer honey (July and August): Snowberry, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Yellow starthistle, Native wildflowers; light amber
Fall honey (September to November): Yellow starthistle, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Green/yellow rabbitbrush, Garden flowers; amber
Whole season (March to November): Snowberry, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Spotted and diffuse knapweed; light amber

Things to watch

No digital FEMA flood map here. FEMA has no digital flood map for this area. Ask the county, and look for low ground near creeks before placing hives.

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.