Surprised at a curlew's cry (9)
I believe the answer is:
caterwaul
'cry' is the definition.
(I know that caterwaul is a type of cry)
'surprised at a curlew's' is the wordplay.
'surprised' is an anagram indicator.
'at'+'a'+'curlew'='atacurlew'
'atacurlew' with letters rearranged gives 'CATERWAUL'.
(Other definitions for caterwaul that I've seen before include "Sound of moggy" , "Make a feline's howling cry" , "Sound catty" , "howl unpleasantly" , "Make feline howl about curate law" .)