I’d read this with commas around ‘like’, rather than with a period after it:
“… how birds look, like, I’m afraid”
works as a sentence while
“… how birds look like. I’m afraid”
is both wrong, like you point out, but also sounds much more serious than the jokey tone I’d expect from a message without punctuation and capitalization
I’d read this with commas around ‘like’, rather than with a period after it: “… how birds look, like, I’m afraid” works as a sentence while “… how birds look like. I’m afraid” is both wrong, like you point out, but also sounds much more serious than the jokey tone I’d expect from a message without punctuation and capitalization