I think that is exactly what it is. There certainly are plenty of milkweed bugs in that area. Thank you!

Looks like a chigger

...only in that chiggers (that are not an insect) are relatively small and can be red colored.

Yikes!

It's a cute lil baby bug. (Not a chigger.)

okay.

Here is a photo I took some time ago just before it vanished into the leaves. Maybe THIS is a chigger? I thought it was a velvet mite.

Maybe! Beats me. I'm willing to call it an adult mite of the color red. Any further attempts at identification from me would require a slide mount, a text book, and a glass of gin.

Mites lack the charm of bugs. Acarologists are trying to atone for a past life or something. :)

Don't think so. Its too big to be a Chigger

Hey Fori! Chiggers are mites.

Yes. Yes they are. Surely I did not imply that they weren't.

Ok