Singer in darkness during storm (11)
I believe the answer is:
nightingale
'singer' is the definition.
(nightingale is a kind of birdanimal)
'darkness during storm' is the wordplay.
'darkness' becomes 'night' (night is a kind of darkness).
'during' becomes 'in' (I've seen this in other clues).
'storm' becomes 'gale' (I've seen this before**).
'night'+'in'+'gale'='NIGHTINGALE'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for nightingale that I've seen before include "Florence" , "Woman of note" , "See 17" , "Flier" , "Subject of 11 [ODE]" .)