The Great Sunflower Project

I am assuming this is a honeybee, but it is not one of my Italian bees. There was only one carpenter bumble bee, and he immediately left the flower when the first of these others arrived. There are many more on the other sunflowers in my garden, which leads me to believe it is a social bee, and the amount of pollen on their back legs makes me think they are honeybees.
I also have a small field of buckwheat that is blooming right now, and that is attracting my Italian bees -- I do not see this particular bee on any of the buckwheat flowers. Nor do I see this particular bee on any of my other garden flowers.

Location of Observation

Garden: timcole (Chesterton)

Date of Observation

08/01/2008 09:00

Temperature

87 degrees Fahrenheit

Flower Type

Native Wild Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) sent by Great Sunflower Project

Flowers on observed plant

4

Plants of this type blooming

5

Bees Observed

Order	Bee Type	Minutes
1	Carpenter Bee	1
2	Honeybee	2
3	Honeybee	3
4	Honeybee	3
5	Honeybee	4