Mate approaching ducks and bird (8)
I believe the answer is:
cockatoo
'bird' is the definition.
(I know that cockatoo is a type of parrot)
'mate approaching ducks' is the wordplay.
'mate' becomes 'cock' (both are terms of affection).
'approaching' becomes 'at' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'ducks' becomes 'oo' (two O's - duck means zero in cricket).
'cock'+'at'+'oo'='COCKATOO'
'and' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cockatoo that I've seen before include "Parrot native to Australia and Indonesia" , "Illegal Aussie look-out man" , "Australian parrot" , "White parrot" , "Bird, a type of parrot" .)