Major Charles Emil Bendire (April 27, 1836 – February 4, 1897) was a United States Army soldier and ornithologist and oologist.

After his tour of duty ended Bendire left the army for one year, but re-enlisted on June 8, 1860, and was assigned to the 4th Cavalry, where he served successively as a private, corporal, sergeant, and a hospital steward until he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 2nd Infantry on May 18, 1864.

He transferred to the 1st Cavalry on September 9, 1864, and was eventually promoted to 1st Lieutenant (for "gallant and meritorious services" at the battle of Trevilian Station during the American Civil War), and later to captain, and then major.

On 1872 while patrolling in Central Arizona, Bendire reportedly snatched a zone-tailed hawk's egg from a nest for his collection while under fire from an Apache scout and secured it safely in his mouth until he could return to camp.

[2] He also published an early description of the Lost River sucker, now known as Deltistes luxatus, in the journal Forest and Stream while he was stationed at Fort Klamath in south-central Oregon.