Champion knight finds bird (5)
I believe the answer is:
heron
'bird' is the definition.
(I know that heron is a type of bird)
'champion knight' is the wordplay.
'champion' becomes 'hero' (synonyms).
'knight' becomes 'N' (chess abbreviation).
'hero'+'n'='HERON'
'finds' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for heron that I've seen before include "Big bird" , "Graceful grey bird with long neck" , "Rhone (anag) - bird" , "Tall wading bird" , "Large British wading bird" .)