Study party rules to begin with, being a high-flyer (6)
I believe the answer is:
condor
'a high-flyer' is the definition.
(type of bird)
'study party rules to begin with' is the wordplay.
'study' becomes 'con' (con can informally mean to study).
'party' becomes 'do' (do is a kind of party).
'to begin with' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'rules' is 'r'.
'con'+'do'+'r'='CONDOR'
'being' is the link.
(Other definitions for condor that I've seen before include "Large American vulture" , "Andean vulture" , "Great bird of the Andes" , "Largest New World vulture" , "Large bird of the Andes (national symbol of Peru)" .)