Mimic bird, teal maybe? (7)
I believe the answer is:
emulate
'mimic' is the definition.
(to emulate is to copy or imitate)
'bird teal maybe?' is the wordplay.
'bird' becomes 'emu' (emu is a kind of bird).
'maybe?' is an anagram indicator (I've seen 'maybe' mean this).
'teal' anagrammed gives 'late'.
'emu'+'late'='EMULATE'
(Other definitions for emulate that I've seen before include "Try to equal or excel" , "reproduce" , "Strive to equal or better" , "Try to be like" , "Copy; try to equal" .)