Blasted duck – or beautiful bird (8)
I believe the answer is:
flamingo
'beautiful bird' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'blasted duck' is the wordplay.
'blasted' becomes 'flaming' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'duck' becomes 'o' (resembles zero - 'duck' in cricket).
'flaming'+'o'='FLAMINGO'
'or' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for flamingo that I've seen before include "Pretty bird" , "Tall wading bird" , "Pink flier" , "Long-legged bird" , "Large pink bird" .)