Bloke securing drink knocked back by Irish singer (9)

I believe the answer is:

bowerbird

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

'singer' is the definition.
(bowerbird is a kind of birdanimal)

'bloke securing drink knocked back by irish' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'irish' could be 'ir' (abbreviation) and 'ir' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for bowerbird that I've seen is " Aussie singer".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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