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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 48.7530, -109.5454

Estimated forage here is better than about 100% of sites in Montana. Against other Montana sites it stands out most in summer (100th percentile) and lowest in fall (below the 1st). Biggest nearby bee crops: mustard (nearest 0.2 mi NE, grown 2 of the last 5 years); peas (nearest 0.2 mi NE, grown 2 of the last 5 years); lentils (nearest 0.2 mi W, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 99th percentile (spring 12th, summer 100th, fall 26th)
  • Montana: 100th percentile (spring 16th, summer 100th, fall 0th)
  • Northwestern Glaciated Plains: 96th percentile (spring 15th, summer 97th, fall 1st)

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

Season

  • First forage: May 16 — Peas, Mustard
  • Main flow: Jun 16 to Jul 15 — Mustard
  • Season ends: Jul 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Mustard: about 2,140 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NE, blooms early Jun – late Jul
  • Mustard: about 235 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi W, blooms early Jun – late Jul
  • Peas: about 1,052 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NE, blooms late May – early Jul
  • Lentils: about 795 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Lentils: about 657 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Lentils: about 494 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Jul

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Mustard, Peas; white
  • Summer honey (July and August): Mustard, Lentils; white
  • Fall honey (September to November): Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Clover/Wildflowers, Dandelion; light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Mustard, Peas, Lentils, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); white

Things to watch

  • Lots of crops with little or no bee value. About 41% of the land within 3 miles is in crops bees get little from (such as wheat and other grains).
  • 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.