Animal with a long time to find a bird (6)
I believe the answer is:
pigeon
'a bird' is the definition.
(type of bird)
'animal with a long time' is the wordplay.
'animal' becomes 'pig' (pigs are animals).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'a long time' becomes 'eon' (eon is a kind of long time).
'pig'+'eon'='PIGEON'
'to find' is the link.
(Other definitions for pigeon that I've seen before include "Common town bird" , "Homer, possibly" , "Common dove" , "Short-legged bird" , "Bird of towns and wood" .)