Crossword Genius

Before flight pester poorly flier (4,7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tree sparrow

'flier' is the definition.
(tree sparrow is a kind of birdanimal)

'before flight pester poorly' is the wordplay.
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'flight' becomes 'arrow' (flight is a type of arrow).
'poorly' indicates anagramming the letters.
'pester' is an anagram of 'treesp'.
'arrow' after 'treesp' is 'TREE SPARROW'.

(Another definition for tree sparrow that I've seen is " Small bird".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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