It flies with the female aboard (5)

I believe the answer is:

heron

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'it flies' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'with the female aboard' is the wordplay.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'the female' becomes 'her' (I've seen this before).
'aboard' becomes 'on' (eg on a ship or train).
'her' next to 'on' is 'HERON'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for heron that I've seen before include "Tall wading bird" , "Wader" , "flier" , "Rhone (anag) - bird" , "Large British wading bird" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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