IF Comp 2024: Birding in Pope Lick Park
I’ll be honest: Pope Lick is a terrifying name for a park. But let’s do this anyway.
Putting the opening of the story on the title is an unusual choice, but fine. It’s also the blurb. Still fine, just unusual.
It’s a perfectly adequate opening.
Pope Lick Park seems to be a real park—so much so that there’s a link to the actual web site on the first page. I really like that. There’s loads more links after that (some informative, and at least one to a comic), which is also cool.
The pics are way too big for my browser, but that’s probably my fault. (Yup; I switched browsers and all is well.)
The accessible text is excellent.
There are some minor typos and a LOT of photos. The bird photos are excellent. The other photos are adequate.
For a little I felt like, “What’s the point of the story?” but clicking on the birds I saw along the way became more and more compelling. I hate repeating text (which I got a little as I wandered around) but the game clearly remembered when I’d been somewhere before, which meant I’d often see new text or even new birds in the same area. That was VERY cool. It really felt quite immersive, in the gentlest possible way. I began to find the scenery photos more compelling too, as it became clearer and clearer that this is, effectively, non-fiction. Everything here is real.
Okay, I’m finished my play-through and I’m totally converted. This is a great story that grows more fascinating as you stroll through it. And yes, it’s incredibly educational and beautiful too.
Felicity Banks 
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