She Eats Like a Bird...

What does "eats like a bird" mean anyway? I looked up the phrase and this is what I found-

Definition: eat very little
Explanation: Used when speaking about someone who needs very little food to get by, often used when criticizing someone for not eating enough.
Examples: She eats like a bird, it's no wonder she's skinny! - You're eating like a bird, I wish you would eat just a little more.

Well, I knew that is what the definition would be, trouble is I'm not sure that's what it really means. I think people who eat like birds likely just pick and poke at their food. Maybe they eat very little, maybe they eat a lot, just not all at once. I think they play with and poke at their food enough so that it isn't fit for anyone else to eat. Maybe they don't even want it themselves but they pick at it anyway. Maybe they take a bite or two, find they "don't like it" and then ask for something else.

There are more than enough blueberries in the patch for both myself and the birds, but the birds have this annoying habit of leaving just a peck or two in about a bazillion berries and finishing very few of them. Nobody but Jasmine really wants to eat bird-pecked berries so they are tossed aside. I don't suppose the birds find them once they are "berried" in the grass and I'm afraid to collect them to feed my feathered friends lest I should attract even more. For now, I continue to throw them away or toss them to the dog. She doesn't know the meaning of "eat like a bird", she just "wolfs them down".