---
title: "We Hid a Camera at the Edge of the Forest – Eurasian Jay Club in Nagybajom"
url: "https://csanyialapitvany.hu/en/kamerat-rejtettunk-az-erdoszelre-szajko-szakkor-nagybajomban/"
date: "2026-10-19"
modified: "2026-10-22"
author: "Sik Maja"
language: "en_GB"
categories: ["News"]
featured_image: "https://csanyialapitvany.hu/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/szv-3022-1024x683.jpg"
---

# We Hid a Camera at the Edge of the Forest – Eurasian Jay Club in Nagybajom

We have embarked on a truly special, long-term adventure with the sixth- and tenth-grade students of the Nagybajom Community House. In a protected, safe area at the edge of the forest, for over a month now—since mid-September—we have set up a fantastic bird bath and a trail camera, which has been diligently watching the inhabitants of the forest ever since.

The location proved to be an excellent choice, as it is in a completely safe environment, and we can easily go out to visit it at any time. The cause also has a huge adult fan: pastor Tamás Bódis has been supporting our small team with full dedication from the very first minute. We pondered over the name of our club for a while, but after viewing the footage, a decision was made. We became the *Szajkó Szakkör* (Eurasian Jay Club), because in the very first recording where a bird came to the bath to drink and bathe, a Eurasian Jay popped up!

**Field Trip, Plant Collection, and Logo Design**

This past weekend, even the youngest students, the sixth-graders, threw themselves into the work with immense enthusiasm during an exciting field trip. We went out to the now well-tested bird bath to map out, to the best of our knowledge, exactly what kind of habitat our camera was placed in. We thoroughly observed the vegetation in the area: herbaceous plants, woody plants, and bushes, so that we could infer what kind of fauna we can expect to appear in the area. At the end of the excursion, we also filled out a detailed field log together.

The sixth-graders did not return empty-handed, and they have already received two exciting homework assignments for the next occasion:

**Logo Competition:** Since we already have a name, the children’s task is to create creative logo designs, from which we will jointly select the official symbol of the Eurasian Jay Club next time.

**Mini Herbarium:** They must independently identify 5–10 species from among the characteristic plants collected in the field.

****Smooth Data Processing and Lightning-Fast Species Identification****

The trail camera is motion-activated and creates a two-minute video for each visitor. Since launching a month ago, an incredible amount of material has already accumulated: we are already up to around 300 short films! Since all the videos at once would take up too much space, we store them on an external hard drive, and we came up with a very practical rotating system to process them. Only 20 videos are uploaded to the Drive folder at a time. As soon as we review and analyze these 20 files during the club session and at home, we delete them from Drive, and the next 20-piece package can take their place.

After the field trip, the sixth- and tenth-graders sat down together in front of the screens to analyze the current footage. With the help of our university student assistant, Zalán Győző, we created a serious Excel spreadsheet in which we note down the weather, the time, and the behavior of the animals point by point. The children enjoyed these two-minute intervals, and the joint effort yielded fantastic results: after barely an hour, the students could easily distinguish the marsh tit from the blue tit, and the European robin from the flycatcher!

Our plan is to collect data like this until September 2027, resulting in an amazingly detailed database on the hidden daily lives and habits of forest animals.

****An Important Milestone Toward Portfolio Defense****

This club is not only about shared experiences and a love of nature, but also serves a serious future purpose for the older students. Although this will not be the sole or main topic for the tenth-graders, this environmental studies and protection project will be a very important, valuable element of their later portfolio defense.

The girls and boys will be able to enrich their presentation materials with this database they built themselves and with the video analyses, proving their perseverance and practical work before the committee. We are very proud of the entire team—from the youngest to the oldest—and we can hardly wait for the next club session!