Cryptic crossword clue
Bird in a river in S American capital that’s lost tail 8

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word CARACARA

I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
C
A
R
A
C
A
R
A

Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Bird" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case bird = caracara.
The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.
This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.

What does CARACARA mean?

CARACARA noun
  1. Any of several South American and Central American birds of prey in the family Falconidae.

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