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Crested Caracara: Large, ground-dwelling falcon, black body, finely barred tail, wing panels and upper breast. Head crest is black, facial skin is red, and large bill is blue-gray and hooked. Legs are long and yellow. Strong steady wing beats alternated with long to short glides. Soars on thermals.
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Gray Jay: Medium-sized, fluffy, crestless jay with gray upperparts, paler underparts, and a short bill. Tail is long and white-tipped. Feeds on insects, carrion, refuse, seed, nuts, berries, mice, eggs and young of other birds. Light and bouyant flight on steady wing beats. Glides between perches.
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California Gull: This is a medium-sized gull with a white head and underparts, gray wings and black wing tips. The bill and legs are yellow, and it has a red eyering. It has a strong direct flight with deep wing beats. It feeds on worms, mice, other birds and their eggs, and garbage. The sexes are similar, but the males are usually larger than females, with a larger bill, head and tarsi.
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Calliope Hummingbird: Very small hummingbird, metallic green upperparts and flanks, white underparts. Throat feathers are long, purple-red, appearing as streaks on a white background, whiskers when fluffed out, or dark, inverted V when folded. Direct and hovering flight with very rapid wing beats.
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Chestnut-collared Longspur: Small, sparrow-like bird with brown-streaked upperparts, black breast and flanks, some have chestnut on underparts, pale gray belly. Face is buff with black stripe behind eye. Nape is chestnut-brown, crown is black, and throat is white. Tail is black with strongly contrasting white outer tail feathers.
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Common Ground-Dove: Small, rounded dove with plain gray-brown back and scaled pink-gray head and breast. Eyes are red and bill is orange-red with black tip. The wings show rufous primaries in flight. Tail is short. Legs and feet are pink. Forages on ground. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
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Clay-colored Sparrow: Medium sparrow with black-streaked brown upperparts and buff underparts. The face is pale with finely streaked crown, crisp brown cheek patch, white eyestripe, and gray nape. Pink-gray legs and feet. Short flight, alternates several rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.
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Connecticut Warbler: Large ground-walking warbler, olive-gray upperparts, dull yellow underparts. Head has a slate-gray hood and bold white eye-ring. It was named for the state where it was first discovered, where it is an uncommon migrant. Sometimes called Swamp Warbler.
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Cassin's Kingbird: Large flycatcher, dark olive-gray upperparts, dull yellow underparts. Mask is dark gray, throat is white and breast is gray. Tail is black with gray or white tip. Black bill, legs and feet. Bouyant fluttering flight with shallow wing beats. Hovers to take insects, berries, fruit.
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Chuck-will's-widow: Large nightjar with entire body complexly mottled with brown, gray, and black. Collar is white, throat is brown, and breast patch is dark brown. The tail is white-edged. Legs and feet are brown. Feeds at night, mostly on insects. Bouyant, silent flight with flicking wing beats.
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Cinnamon Teal: This small duck has scaled dark brown upperparts, cinnamon-brown underparts, head and neck, red eyes, long dark bill and yellow-gray legs. White line divides green speculum and pale blue shoulder patch on wing. Female is brown-scaled overall with dull blue shoulder patch, dark eyes and pale edged upper mandible. Feeds on seeds and insects. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
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Clapper Rail: Large, noisy marsh bird, gray or brown upperparts, vertical white-barred flanks and belly, buff or rust-brown breast. Bill is long, slightly decurved. Gray legs, feet. Feeds at low tide on mudflats or hidden in salt marsh vegetation. Flight is low and fluttering over short distances.
In 2016 the American Ornithologist Union split the Clapper Rail into three species, the Clapper Rail, Ridgway's Rail and Mangrove Rail (not in North America).
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Curlew Sandpiper: This is a medium-sized sandpiper with mottled rufous, white and black upperparts. The head, neck and breast are a rich rufous, while vent, under tail coverts and underwings are white. It has a long black bill that is slightly decurved, and black legs and feet. It mainly feeds on insects and other small invertebrates. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats. Sexes are similar.
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Common Chaffinch: Medium finch. Buff body. Crown and nape are blue-gray; belly and vent are white. Dark wings with white shoulder patches and single white bars. Forages in trees, bushes. Eats seeds and insects. Bounding flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.
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Cassin's Vireo: Small vireo, olive-gray upperparts, white underparts, pale yellow flanks. Head is gray with white eye-ring that extends to brow. Wings are dark with two white bars. Until the 1990s was classified as the Solitary Vireo, along with the Blue-headed and Plumbeous Vireos.
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Cave Swallow: Small swallow (Southwest pelodoma), with steel-blue upperparts, white underparts, rufous wash on breast and sides. Forehead is chestnut-brown and throat and rump are buff. Tail is square. Swift, graceful flight, alternates several rapid, deep wing beats with long curving glides.
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Couch's Kingbird: Large flycatcher, olive-green upperparts, gray head, dark eye patch, white throat, bright yellow underparts. Wings and slightly forked tail are dark. Black legs and feet. Difficult to distinguish from Tropical Kingbird. Slow fluttering flight on shallow wing beats.
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Common Ringed Plover: Plump little plover with dark gray-brown upperparts, pure white underparts, and strong black mask and chest band. Base of dark-tipped bill and legs are bright orange. Frequents mudflats. Eats worms, aquatic insects, crustaceans and mollusks. Direct flight with rapid wing beats.
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Cory's Shearwater: Large gray-brown shearwater, white underparts, pale yellow bill. Feeds at night on crustaceans and large sqiud it takes from the surface. Best identified by its relatively slow, languid flight compared to other shearwaters. Wings held downward. Soars on fixed wings if wind is up.
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Common Eider: Large diving duck (v-nigrum), with distinctive sloping forehead, black body, white breast and back. Crown is black and nape is pale green. Wings are white with black primary and secondary feathers. Tail and rump are black. Bill is dull yellow to gray-green (eastern) or orange-yellow (western).
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Cackling Goose: This small to medium-sized goose has a mottled gray-brown body, black legs, tail, neck, head and face, with a white chin strap stretching from ear to ear and a white rump band. The bill is small and triangular. It eats a variety of plant species and parts, especially grasses, sedges, grain and berries. Strong deep wing beats. Sexes are similar; the male is larger.
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