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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 48.9000, -115.1723

Estimated forage here is better than about 64% of sites in Montana. Against other Montana sites it stands out most in spring (96th percentile) and lowest in fall (1st). Biggest nearby bee crops: alfalfa (nearest 2.3 mi NE, 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.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 44th percentile (spring 48th, summer 68th, fall 41st)
  • Montana: 64th percentile (spring 96th, summer 56th, fall 1st)
  • Northern Rockies: 1st percentile (spring 54th, summer 0th, fall 19th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 16 — Willows, Dandelion
  • Main flow: May 1 to Jul 31 — Snowberry, Willows, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Alfalfa: about 25 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.8 mi NE, blooms late Jun – early Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 26 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.9 mi NE, blooms late Jun – early Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 7 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.5 mi E, blooms late Jun – early Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 2 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.3 mi NE, blooms late Jun – early Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 5 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.1 mi E, blooms late Jun – early Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 5 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.3 mi E, blooms late Jun – early Oct

What the honey would be made of

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