2026 Coffee with the Birds Mug Club Photo Contest
Have you taken a bird photo in Ottawa County that would look great on our 2027 Mug Club limited edition mug? We want to see it!
The 2026 Mug Club Photo Contest opens for submissions on October 1, 2026, with submissions due by October 31, 2026. Click the link below to enter your photos starting October 1!
Mug Club Photo Contest Submission Form
Photographers may submit up to three original bird photos taken in Ottawa County between November 1, 2025, and October 31, 2026.
Check back here or subscribe to the Birding Newswire email list HERE for updates.
New This Year: Photo Categories
This year’s contest features five categories:
1. Warblers
Get a photo of any of the flashy members of family Parulidae (New World Warblers)
2. Grand River Greenway Parks
Get a photo of a bird at any Ottawa County Park, Natural Area or Open Space along the Grand River Greenway (click for more on the parks included and how to experience them).
3. In Flight
Get a photo of a a bird in the process of taking off, landing or in flight.
4. Youth (17 and under)
Get a photo of a bird and be age 17 or younger.
5. General Submissions
If you have a great shot you want to share that doesn’t fit any of the categories above, you can submit it to this category, which will be an annual catch-all so no photos will be left out!
NOTE: ALL SUBMISSIONS TO ANY CATEGORY WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR THE GRAND PRIZE AND PLACEMENT ON THE MUG.
*We reserve the right to switch any photo to a different category as we best see fit, as some photos may have crossover between categories. For example a Warbler in flight at Grand River Park taken by a 15 year old.
All submissions, regardless of category, will be considered for the grand prize and placement on the 2027 Mug Club mug. We can’t wait to see the birds of Ottawa County through your lens!
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2025 Coffee with the Birds Photo Contest Winners
Congratulation June!
Congratulations Matt, Ryan, Janet and Lynnae!
WATCH the 2024 Photo Contest Winner’s Stories:
Premiers Saturday, January 10, 2026 at 10:30am!
The 2025 Coffee with the Birds Mug Club Photo Contest had 167 entries! Out of all these entries we chose 5 winners: 4 honorable mentions and 1 Grand Prize winner to go on our 2026 Mug Club Member mug. To highlight the amazing winning photos, we’ve interviewed all 5 winners: June Kuiper, Ryan Bebej, Jan Lewis, Matt Ehinger and Lennea Roon. We asked them to give us a glimpse into the story behind their fantastic photos. Enjoy!
WATCH THE Photo Contest Winner & 2024 MUG REVEAL EVENT!
Watch as the Winner of the 2025 Coffee with the Birds Photo Contest is reveled and the 2026 mug is unveiled! Also revealed are the photos that will be in the 2026 Calendar! Following the reveal, Curtis gives a fun presentation “Tales from the 50-50-50 Birding Road” focusing on his birding travels to NM, UT, ID and WA in pursuit of seeing 50 birds in all 50 states by 50 years old.
2025 Coffee with the Birds Photo Contest Slideshow
Enjoy this slideshow video of the 167 photo contest entries for the 2025 Coffee with the Birds Mug Club Photo Contest. All photos were taken between 11/1/24 and 10/31/25 in Ottawa County, Michigan. Once the winners are announced, you’ll be able to view them posted right here. The winner will be featured on the 2026 Mug Club Member mug!
Thank you to everyone who entered the Photo Contest! We enjoy seeing so many incredible photos and so much participation from so many people! Make sure to COMMENT BELOW and tell us which are YOUR FAVORITES! For more information on birding and Ottawa County Parks, visit: https://www.miottawa.org/Parks/birding
To learn more about the Mug Club click here: https://news.miottawa.org/cwb-mug-club/
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2024 Mug Club Photo Contest Winners
Congratulations Ryan!
Visit the Coffee with the Birds Mug Club Information Page for more details on how you can get your own membership and mug!
Congratulations David, Kevin, Joseph and Michael!
WATCH the 2024 Photo Contest Winner’s Stories:
The 2024 Coffee with the Birds Mug Club Photo Contest had 141 entries! Unfortunately, we could only choose 4 honorable mentions and 1 Grand Prize winner to go on our 2025 Mug Club Member mug. To highlight the amazing winning photos, we’ve interviewed all 5 winners: Ryan Bebej, Kevin Povenz, David Slikkers, Michael Bergeon and Joseph Malott. We asked them to give us a glimpse into the story behind their amazing photos. Enjoy!
WATCH THE Photo Contest Winner & 2024 MUG REVEAL EVENT!
Watch as the Winner of the 2024 Mug Club Photo Contest is reveled and the 2025 mug is unveiled! Also revealed are the photos that will be in the 2025 Calendar! Following the reveal, Curtis gives a fun presentation about some of his birding adventures to Louisiana this fall for the Yellow Rails and Rice Festival.
2024 Coffee with the Birds Photo Contest Slideshow
Enjoy this slideshow video of the record-breaking 140 entries for the 2024 Coffee with the Birds Mug Club Photo Contest. All photos were taken between 11/1/23 and 10/31/24 in Ottawa County, Michigan. The winner will be featured on the 2025 Mug Club Member mug! Visit news.miottawa.org/cwb-mug-club for more details on how you can get your own membership and mug! Thank you to everyone who entered the 2024 Photo Contest! We received many excellent entries, and our panel of judges had a difficult job selecting the winners. However, a winner has been selected and the 2024 mugs have been ordered! For more information on birding and Ottawa County Parks, visit: miottawa.org/birding To stay connected to our video programming content, subscribe to the Ottawa County Parks YouTube Channel – today!
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2023 Photo Contest Winners!
Thank you to everyone who entered the 2023 Photo Contest! We received many excellent entries, and our panel of judges had a difficult job selecting the winners. You can view the winning photos below. The winner is featured on the 2024 Mug Club Member mug!
Congratulations Jeanne!
Visit the Coffee with the Birds Mug Club Information Page for more details on how you can get your own membership and mug!
Congratulations Andrew, Carl, Lucas and Ryan!
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WATCH! The Stories Behind the Winning Photos
To highlight the amazing winning photos, we’ve interviewed all 5 winners: Jeanne Stoddard, Andrew Byerly, Carl Manning, Lucas Timmer and Ryan Bebej. We asked them to give us a glimpse into the story behind their amazing photos. Enjoy!
WATCH THE Photo Contest Winner & 2024 MUG REVEAL EVENT!
11/21/23 at 7:00 pm Social Time, 7:15 Mug Reveal; 7:30 program; The Nature Center at Hemlock Crossing County Park
Watch as the Winner of the 2023 Mug Club Photo Contest is reveled and the 2024 mug is unveiled! Also revealed are the photos that will be in the 2024 Calendar! Following the reveal, Curtis gives a fun presentation about some of his birding adventures to North Dakota this past summer. *This event was Livestreamed! Watch below on the Ottawa County Parks YouTube Channel – Subscribe today! Mug Reveal Event Livestream (YouTube link)
2023 Mug Club Photo Contest Video
Thank you to everyone who entered the 2023 Photo Contest! We received many excellent entries, and our panel of judges had a difficult job selecting the winners. You can view the winning photos above. The winner is featured on the 2024 Mug Club Member mug! Click this link for more details on how you can get your own membership and mug! Enjoy this slideshow video of the record 85 entries for the 2023 Coffee with the Birds Mug Club Photo Contest. All photos were taken between 11/1/22 and 10/31/23 in Ottawa County, Michigan. Visit the Coffee with the Birds Mug Club Information Page for more details on how you can get your own membership and mug!
2023 Mug Club Photo Contest
Have you taken a bird photo in Ottawa County in 2023 that would look great on our 2024 Mug Club limited edition mug? We want to see it!
The 2023 Mug Club Photo Contest is open to receive entries! Click the link below or the camera image to go to the submission form. Submit original image files (up to 3/person).
Photo Contest Submission Form
(submissions are due 10/31/23)
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Scroll down to look at winners and submission videos from previous years…
Archived Photo Contest Images & Videos:
2022 Mug Club Photo Contest
2022 Photo Contest Winner!
2022 Honorable Mention Winners
The Stories Behind the Winning Photos
To highlight the amazing winning photos, we’ve interviewed all 5 winners: Mike Bergeon, Chris Sprik, Lonny Garris, Carl Manning & June Kuiper. We asked them to give us a glimpse into the story behind their amazing photos. Enjoy!
2022 Mug Club Photo Contest Video
Enjoy this slideshow video of the 95 entries for the 2022 Coffee with the Birds Mug Club Photo Contest. All photos were taken between 11/1/21 and 10/31/22 in Ottawa County, Michigan.
2022 Photo Contest Winner & 2023 MUG REVEAL EVENT!
Livestreamed Video (Live 11/22/22 at 7:00 pm)
2021 Mug Club Photo Contest
2021 Photo Contest Winner!
2021 Honorable Mention Winners
The Stories Behind the Winning Photos
For this year’s Coffee with the Birds Mug Club Photo Contest, we thought it would be fun to hear the stories behind the the taking of the 5 winning photos. So we interviewed all 5 winners in order to share these stories with you. Each story is about 2 minutes long and the video concludes with the Grand Prize winner’s story. Enjoy!
2021 Mug Club Photo Contest Video
Enjoy this slideshow video of the 71 entries for the 2021 Coffee with the Birds Mug Club Photo Contest. All photos were taken between 11/1/20 and 10/31/21 in Ottawa County, Michigan. The winner will be featured on the 2022 Mug Club Member mug! Read below for more details on how you can get your own membership and mug! Thank you to everyone who entered the 2021 Photo Contest! We received many excellent entries and our panel of judges had a difficult job selecting the winners. However, a winner has been selected and the 2022 mugs have been ordered!
2021 Photo Contest Winner & 2022 REVEAL EVENT!
Livestreamed Video (Live 11/23/21 at 7:00 pm)
This year we revealed the Photo Contest winners & 2022 mug LIVE, ONLINE, before the first CwB Event on December 11th.
2020 Mug Club Photo Contest
2020 Photo Contest Winner!
Congratulations to Emily Tornga! Her beautiful photo of a Tufted Titmouse in the lightly falling snow is this year’s photo contest winner!
2020 Honorable Mention Winners
Congratulations are also in order for Chris Sprik, Judi Manning, Martin Blanchard and Doug Kuiper who each eared an Honorable Mention award for their photos!
Thank you to everyone who entered the 2020 Photo Contest! We received about 50 wonderful entries making the selecting this year’s winners difficult! Watch the video below to see a slide show of all the entries put to music.
2019 Mug Club Photo Contest
2019 Photo Contest Winner!
2019 Honorable Mention Winners
2018 Mug Club Photo Contest
2017 Mug Club Photo Contest
2019 Photo Contest Winner!
Golden-crowned Kinglet by Charles DeWitt
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Ottawa County Birding information Page
For more bird-related information and links to resources visit the Ottawa County Birding Information Page