Very many thanks, jono - great fun! Also very clever; I thought "mistaken" in 7 was brilliant.
UNKINDNESS was my first, so I had a pretty good guess what the theme was.
The actual answers (I hope) are:
1 CORVIDAE
2 CHOUGH
3 MAGPIE
4 UNKINDNESS
5 JACKDAW
6 POPINJAY
7 MURDER
8 MISCHIEF
9 MICROWAVE
10 TRAIN
11 INTRAVENOUS
12 CHATTERING
13 CROOKED
14 BAND
15 CLAMOUR
I was thrown for a bit because Google came up with "clattering" first for choughs.