In ‘The Hunger Games’, the genetically modified bird used for surveillance is the jabberjay.
The Capitol created jabberjays as biological spies during its war with the districts. These black birds could memorize and repeat entire human conversations, allowing them to carry information back to Capitol authorities. The rebels recognized the danger and began feeding the birds false information.
The Capitol abandoned the project after the jabberjays were no longer useful as reliable spies. The birds survived in the wild and bred with mockingbirds, producing the hybrid known as the mockingjay. Unlike jabberjays, mockingjays were not deliberately engineered by the Capitol and could imitate both human melodies and natural bird calls.
This distinction is a frequent source of confusion. A mockingjay is the symbolic hybrid associated with Katniss Everdeen, while a jabberjay is the original surveillance bird. A Tracker Jacker is a genetically engineered wasp, and an Avox is a person punished by the Capitol, not an animal.