Unusual Bird Activity

Last evening a little before dark I was at the mall. When I got out of the car I heard a
cacophony of bird sound. Looking up, I saw a huge flock of birds flying round and round although not in synchrony. They were staying together in a group, but some were flying one way and some another. I attempted to talk to a couple people about the birds, but clearly no one I spoke to was interested. One woman said she guessed they were happy. What a dumb thing to say. Anyone could see they were not happy, but very disturbed. Most people appeared not to notice. I bet they would have noticed if those birds had taken a synchronous shat. Excuse me, I can't help myself. Really, how could you not notice or care about something so unusual. Another person offered that maybe the birds were trying to tell us something. Now, seriously, I doubt those birds care anything about us. I see now that for the most part the 2 species were just not interested in each other.
When I came out of the mall it was dark and I couldn't see the birds, but I could still hear them. Is there an ornithologist here who can offer a suggestion? I do not know what kind of birds they were,