Three Saturdays this winter, January 9, February 13 and March 13, the Hemlock Crossing Nature Center at 8115 West Olive Road has programs at both ends of the day. Coffee with the Birds fills the morning with feeder watching and a short naturalist talk. At 7 pm the Shoreline Amateur Astronomical Association gives its free monthly program inside the Nature Center, followed by telescope viewing at the park's public observatory if the weather allows.
So for three winter weekends, Hemlock Crossing is the best-scheduled place in Port Sheldon Township from 9:30 am to 8 pm. The season starts with two smaller dates this month: a stargazing talk this Saturday and a mug reveal the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
The season at a glance
Here is every Coffee with the Birds date and every monthly astronomy program on the county calendar from now through March, in one table. The astronomy programs run 7 to 8 pm.
| Date | Morning or afternoon | Evening, starting at 7 pm |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 14 | None | "Past, Present & Future of the Universe" |
| Tue., Nov. 24 | None | Mug Reveal Event, 7 to 9 pm |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Coffee with the Birds | None |
| Sat., Jan. 9 | Coffee with the Birds | "Voyager 1 Spacecraft" |
| Sat., Feb. 13 | Coffee with the Birds, then "Great Backyard Birds," 1 to 3 pm | "Spring & Summer Skies" |
| Sat., Mar. 13 | Coffee with the Birds | "Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope" |
February 13 has the most going on. The county has added "Great Backyard Birds," an afternoon program for ages 12 and up, between the coffee and the telescope talk. It is the only program on the list with a fee: $10 for Ottawa County residents and $15 for nonresidents. The other programs in the table are free.
Mornings in the Wildlife Den
According to Ottawa County Parks' season page, Coffee with the Birds means coffee and baked goods at the Nature Center while a naturalist helps you identify whatever comes to the feeders. You're asked to bring your favorite mug. Each Saturday follows the same schedule:
- 9:30 to 10:20 am: Feeder Watching Session 1, in person and livestreamed
- 10:30 to 11:00 am: Birding Tidbits, a short talk, in person and livestreamed
- 11:10 am to 12:00 pm: Feeder Watching Session 2, in person only
The Wildlife Den seats about 35 people per session. When it fills, the county sends people to the Great Room, which also looks out on the feeders and has staff on hand. If you want a Wildlife Den seat, come early. Session 2 is in person only, so it's the one that rewards the drive.
The coffee is donated. The county credits Aldea Coffee, a locally owned, Certified B Corp coffee company based in West Michigan, with donating both the coffee and the brewing service, plus gift bags for the door prize drawings. Rick Veldman of Point of Light Media handles the livestream. Session 1 and the Birding Tidbits talk go out on the Ottawa County Parks YouTube channel, which also keeps past events.
The Tidbits topics change each month. December 5 profiles the bird on the 2027 mug, January 9 has the 2026 photo contest winners telling the stories behind their photos, February 13 covers bird identification, and March 13 is a birding story. Each topic follows from the one before it, and they all start with the mug reveal in November.
November 24 and the mug
The season opens on a Tuesday night. The Mug Reveal Event runs 7 to 9 pm on November 24. Cocoa and cider are served from 7:00, the reveal is at 7:15, and a birding story presentation starts at 8:00. It's free and open to all ages, though anyone 15 or younger needs a guardian. Registration is encouraged, and it closes at noon the day before.
The evening is the payoff for a photo contest. Ottawa County Parks asks bird photographers, amateur and professional, to send in bird photos taken in Ottawa County. The winning photo goes on a limited-edition Mug Club mug, and four honorable mentions are also recognized. The 2024 winner, for example, was an American Avocet. On the 24th you'll see which 2026 photo made the cut. The December 5 Tidbits talk then profiles the bird on it, and on January 9 the winning photographers tell how they got their shots. The county says Mug Club memberships help pay for Coffee with the Birds and for feeding the birds at the Nature Center. So the mugs in the Wildlife Den also help keep the feeders full.
Evenings at the observatory
Down the path, the Hemlock Crossing Public Observatory calls itself the first public observatory in West Michigan. It opened in 2022 with a 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. Members of the Shoreline Amateur Astronomical Association run it, and it was built with support from the SAAA, the Ottawa County Parks & Recreation Commission, Friends of Ottawa County Parks, the Ottawa County Parks Foundation and individual donors.
The observatory runs on two schedules. Friday public viewing happens only when the sky allows, an SAAA member has to be there to run the telescope, and the session is canceled if the forecast is overcast. The monthly program is held indoors during the cooler months regardless of the weather, with stargazing afterward if conditions allow. Given how cloudy a lakeshore winter can be, that difference matters. A Friday plan can be canceled by the forecast. The Saturday talk goes on either way.
This Saturday's program, "Past, Present & Future of the Universe," starts at 7 pm and is free for ages 12 and up. The talk at the Nature Center is followed by telescope viewing if the weather allows. Registration is optional, but the county recommends it because that's how cancellations and changes reach you by email.
The trees the park is named for
Tonight, Thursday, November 12, the topic at the Nature Center is the trees themselves. From 5 to 7 pm, a free session for ages 12 and up covers the hemlock woolly adelgid: the insect's biology and history, how Ottawa County Parks is managing it, and advice for landowners. The listing says the pest was first detected in Ottawa County in 2016.
The work is already underway nearby. In September, according to the parks department's October 2026 natural resources report, county parks staff and the West Michigan Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area treated nearly 900 hemlocks at Port Sheldon Natural Area. High-priority trees got dinotefuran, a faster-acting and more expensive chemical than the imidacloprid used across most of the property. Staff and volunteers also started basal bark treatments, a spray for trees too small to inject. If you have hemlocks on your own property, the landowner portion of tonight's session is aimed at you.
Building the full Saturday
On the three Saturdays with programs in the morning and evening, the day at Hemlock Crossing can look like this:
- 9:30 am: Feeder Watching Session 1 in the Wildlife Den, with Aldea coffee.
- 10:30 am: Birding Tidbits. In January it's the photo contest winners, in February bird ID, in March a birding story.
- 11:10 am: Feeder Watching Session 2, in person only.
- 1:00 pm, February 13 only: "Great Backyard Birds," the paid afternoon program.
- 7:00 pm: The SAAA program at the Nature Center, with the telescope afterward if the sky clears.
There are a few more dates at the same address. A free snowshoeing program runs Saturday, January 2, from 10 am to noon. On February 27, a two-part winter birding field trip covers winter waterfowl in the morning and "Birding the Barrens" in the afternoon, each $10 for residents and $15 for nonresidents. If you're new to birding, the free Birding Basics talk on Thursday, January 7, from 6 to 7:30 pm, comes two days before the first combined Saturday.
Registration for all of these goes through the county's program portal, which is linked from the Coffee with the Birds page.
At Michigan Homes & Cottages, we pay attention to the places that make a West Olive winter worth staying for, and Hemlock Crossing is one of them. If you own a home along this stretch of the lakeshore and are thinking about what comes next, request your complimentary lakeshore marketing plan, and we'll show how we'd present everything around your home, Hemlock Crossing included, to the buyers who will value it.
