Easterly gale disturbed the winger (5)
I believe the answer is:
eagle
'winger' is the definition.
(eagle is a type of bird)
'easterly gale disturbed' is the wordplay.
'easterly' becomes 'E' (abbreviation for east).
'disturbed' indicates anagramming the letters (the order of letters is disturbed).
'gale' is an anagram of 'agle'.
'e'+'agle'='EAGLE'
'the' is the link.
(Other definitions for eagle that I've seen before include "Two under in 20 across" , "Bird of prey; former children's comic" , "ten-dollar coin" , "part of round that's exceptional" , "Symbolic American bird" .)