Birds peck first seedlings around power ring (8)
I believe the answer is:
peacocks
'birds' is the definition.
(peacock is a kind of bird)
'peck first seedlings around power ring' is the wordplay.
'first' indicates taking the first letters.
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'power' becomes 'ac' (AC is an example).
'ring' becomes 'o' (letter resembling a ring).
The initial letter of 'seedlings' is 's'.
'peck'+'s'='pecks'
'ac'+'o'='aco'
'pecks' placed around 'aco' is 'PEACOCKS'.
(Other definitions for peacocks that I've seen before include "Proud colourful birds" , "Proud long-tailed birds" .)