After seeing the kasparov khalifman game with the bird defense my opinion of it softened up considerably.
Its still ugly in a way only a mother could love but still better than it looks. I myself like the old steinitz and cozio but prob woudnt venture to play it. But if you do your homework it can work for you and bypass lots of theory
The Bird looks fully viable as per engine evaluations. It has a bad practical record because no one has tried it seriously and gained experience as black, and the reputation of "violates opening principle" has made people too suspicious to try.
Actually even white's best efforts have engine evaluation of 0.5 which is about 0.10 better than the absolute mainlines of the RuyLopez.
i did ithttps://www.chess.com/play/computer