u/Jazzlike-Monk-4465

Found this lovely guy crawling on my leg and thought it was a blood engorged tick at first. Interesting that the camera makes the color look quite different on my white leg versus dark shorts.

Yes I know it’s an arachnid. What kind of mite is this I found on my leg? It hadn’t bit. I thought it was a blood engorged tick, but I don’t think so. What do you think? In piedmont forest. Thanks!

The flowers mostly got zapped 3 weeks ago and a freeze last week got most young leaves. These persevere and I hope they do well. This is on parkland (in Maryland piedmont) where I have taken loving care of this one for several years. (I’m a fanatical killer of invasive plants everywhere and particularly when paws are concerned) This one has done so well with growth and I hope they endure.

Dang. I wasn’t even looking for them, but put my hand on the Sycamore as I walked past and suddenly noticed a few little black things on my sleeve looked closer and knew just what they were. Because they were still clustered at the egg case I was able to palm slap four or five eruptions and kill at least 50.