Last year in Springfield, MO I saw a flock of whooping cranes flying south. Take that pattern, shrink the numbers, but enlarge the birds and picture it in slow motion. The absolute most amazingly beautiful display of flying I have EVER seen. Magnificent. I even had my free 2 meg kodak camera with me, but the 20 second videos didn’t do them justice. (Well, it was equal to a slow motion landing of a jet at an air show.)
These birds look like Grackles. If they are spotted they are starlings, if luminescent blue/black, Grackles. They are hilarious to watch. As they walk they pick up a leaf, throw it, and look for bugs.
I once saw about 50-100 mourning doves in a couple of trees. THAT was weird.
See flocks like that in the Arkansas River valley all winter...