Birds - spotted fliers (8)

I believe the answer is:

sawbills

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

'spotted fliers' is the wordplay.
'spotted' becomes 'saw' (I've seen this in other clues).
'fliers' becomes 'bills' ('bill' can be a synonym of 'flier').
'saw'+'bills'='SAWBILLS'

(Another definition for sawbills that I've seen is " birds".)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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