Writer from play using The Birds (8)
I believe the answer is:
penguins
'the birds' is the definition.
(penguin is a kind of bird)
'writer from play using' is the wordplay.
'writer' becomes 'pen' (I've seen this before).
'from' says to put letters next to each other.
'play' indicates anagramming the letters.
'using' with letters rearranged gives 'guins'.
'pen'+'guins'='PENGUINS'
(Other definitions for penguins that I've seen before include "Flightless sea-birds" , "books" , "E.g. Kings and Emperors" , "Flightless birds of cold regions" , "Flightless birds of Antarctic regions" .)