A few cotes have been built for the birds (7)

I believe the answer is:

avocets

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'birds' is the definition.
(avocet is a kind of bird)

'a few cotes have been built' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'few' could be 'v' and 'v' is located in the answer.
an anagram of 'cotes' is 'ocets' which is within the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'for the' is the link.

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