I saw this tree full of birds as I was driving. I wasn’t in a position to stop, so I filmed a video over my shoulder as I drove past, and just took the best stills I could get from it after the fact.
I feel like this scene would have been harder to capture if I’d taken the more traditional approach. Sometimes it’s fun to record short blind videos and see what can be gleaned from them!
Here is an animated gif from the original footage :)
They look to me like American Crows, which are prevalent throughout much of our continent. Depending on time of day and year, this gathering could be a few things. During fall and winter most crows will roost together in large numbers in a safe location at night. They gather in large groups, sometimes stopping on their way to the roosting destination, making it a pre-roost. They can't see well to fly at night, so these roosters usually get together late afternoon and early evening.
Flocks of crows will gather if there is a good feeding opportunity, if one of their own is in danger or dying, if they see a dead crow (crow funeral), or if they want to haze and hassle predators like hawks, owls, raccoons, etc. They also converge for reasons not yet known to researchers, but it is believed to be a kind of socializing, as crows have a very structured society and culture, and are crazy smart.
As for it being a "murder," groups of crows are scientifically referred to as flocks. The term murder is also correct, but this term was chosen based on fear and lack of understanding. In some pro-crow groups the term is no longer PC, but it's still big in the dark art world.
-super-interesting information from comment by 
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