I have seen RLs breeding at Newline Quarry during the blitz.
This season, I have had regular – almost daily – visits from at least a pair of RLs feeding on a flowering Banksia in my front garden.
Yesterday I saw a pair on top of an Atlantic Cedar next door. One (I presume the male) was bobbing and fluttering wings. (At that point I couldn’t see the
female but assumed that she was around.)
The male approached the female, now visible. Initially, she hopped onto a nearby branch. The male followed and kept approaching her. There was some contact
of heads and necks. Then he mounted her, upon her back for a while but then positioned himself properly, tails entwined and he thrusted several times and then dismounted. There were no theatrics and no screeching or calling of any kind that I could hear.
So, local suburban breeding. I cannot see where they may be nesting. A Eucalypt near my house with a good hollow is occupied by nesting Galahs. I will continue
to explore the neighbourhood for the RLs’ nest.
David
