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I must admit I don't find this terribly persuasive for Black.  I've encountered a number of times with White just recently, and I think if there's any difficulty for White it's in determining which line to adopt, because there are several that seem okay.  Nowhere is White going to get a whopping advantage, but I think Black is hard pressed to reach equality.

More often than not, play reaches a reversed Classical Dutch where White has an extra tempo.

1 f4 d5 2 Nf3 g6 3 e3 Bg7 4 Be2 c5 5 0-0 Nc6 6 d3 Nf6

All pretty standard; Black can play almost any order of moves 3-6 depending on how terrifying s/he finds White's b4.  Here, White has a variety of options: 7 Nc3, 7 Qe1, 7 a4, and 7 Ne5.  I haven't tried this last yet, and have only played a4 after 7 Qe1 (7 Qe1 0-0 8 a4 Qc7 9 Qh4--though maybe this isn't right...), but I have tried  7 Nc3 b5 8 Qe1, after which my opponent played the weakening 8 ... h5.  More interesting from Black's point of view is 7 Qe1 0-0 8 Qh4 b5!? 9 Nbd2 c4 10 a3 Qb6 11 d4 b4 12 Ne5 bxa3 13 Rxa3 (13 bxa3? Nxd4! 14 exd4 Qxd4 and Black is winning) Nb4 14 Bd1 Bf5 15 g4 Bxc2 16 g5 Bxd1 17 Rxd1 with a difficult, but vaguely equal position...

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Yes, but Black has a good move order: 1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 g6! 3.e3 Bg7 and no b4  (what you named b5!?)

Dmitry Oleinikov
an author of  "The Bird" training CD (ChessBase)

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Is this TN back-pedalling on the From?

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Or better yet The Lame Duck line. 

TN

Well!!

After 13..Bd7 I will simply play 14.Bf2 and I stand by my view that White has a clear advantage. Incidentally, I talked with Kotronias after the game, he agrees with me <or did>.

This line is tricky: f4 e5, fe Nc6, Nf3 g5, h3 d6, d4 de, d5 e4, dxc6!? and I do not think that White should be worse after these complications, - I may post again tomorrow after i have examined this line in more detail!
                                         

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Well yes, the Bird is best used from time to time, but I take issue with your dubious sign for the From's as you have failed to address the improvement I put forward in your Kotronias game, after which it is White that is struggling.

You have also failed to show anything convincing against the Neo From, both in this thread and the one in the Flank section. You claimed a clear advantage based on a game with a local IM, who clearly despite his title did not know the theory very well: 1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 g5 4.h3 d6 5.d4 dxe5 6.d5 e4! [Not 6...Nce7 7.e4 as in your game with the local IM which I agree clearly favors white] and if anything the complications favor Black. 

Are you sure that your 1.e4 prep is the only reason for abandoning the Bird. Be honest now, you can confide in us.    

Tops

Postscript: Don't feel left out of the loop HGman, I haven't forgotten you, in fact I eagerly await your hopefully substantive response to my previous post.  

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I have already explained at length when I think it is appropriate to consider playing a Gambit continuation in another thread, I challenge you to find it. 

In case you are unable to find it, here is the short version. 1.f4 voluntarily compromises white's own kings position on the e1-h4 diagonal, so much so in fact that after 1...e5!? White need only cooperate with 2.g4 allowing the now infamous two move checkmate. When the opponent self inflicts weaknesses we are well within or rights to try to exploit them as energetically as possible, if that entails a gambit, then so be it.

HGman may not think that 13...Bd7 below is a significant improvement on the T. Rendle vs V. Kotronias game, but it is. In fact HGman doesn't think very highly of the From's at all, to each his own I guess. 

1.f4 e5 2.fe d6 3.ed Bxd6 4.nf3 g5 5.g3 g4 6.Nh4 Ne7 7.d4 Nc6 8.c3 Ng6 9.Nxg6 hg 10.Qd3 Bf5 11.e4 Qe7 12.Bg2 0-0-0 13.Be3 Bd7! 

Here HGman agrees that 13...Bd7! is better than Kotronias' 13...Be6?!, but thinks that White still has all the chances. Unfortunately he does not supply us with White's 14th move, which will have to address the extremely awkward threat of Rxh2 followed Bxg3+. 

In the absence of anything substantive from HGman I will supply a couple of illustrative games that underscore White's difficulties in this line:

[Event "NWAPA Rector Cup"]
[Site "St Petersburg RUS"]
[Date "2005.??.??"]
[White "Pogosian,Vl"]
[Black "Solovjov,S"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2204"]
[BlackElo "2456"]
[ECO "A02"]
[Round "4"]

1. f4 e5 2. fxe5 d6 3. exd6 Bxd6 4. Nf3 g5 5. g3 g4 6. Nh4 Ne7 7. d4 Ng6 8. Nxg6 hxg6 9. Qd3 Nc6 10. c3 Bf5 11. e4 Qe7 12. Bg2 O-O-O 13. Be3 Bd7 14. Nd2 Rxh2 15. Rxh2 Bxg3+ 16. Bf2 Bxh2 17. O-O-O Bf4 18. Kb1 g3 19. Bxg3 Ne5 20. dxe5 Ba4 21. Qf3 Bxd2 22. b3 Bb5 23. c4 Bc6 24. Qf2 Bg5 25. Rd5 Kb8 26. Bf4 Bxd5 27. exd5 Bxf4 28. Qxf4 Re8 29. d6 cxd6 30. exd6 Qe1+ 31. Kb2 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "corr"]
[Date "1993.??.??"]
[White "Klausen,T "]
[Black "Wisloff,S "]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A02"]
[Round "?"]

1. f4 e5 2. fxe5 d6 3. exd6 Bxd6 4. Nf3 g5 5. g3 g4 6. Nh4 Ne7 7. d4 Ng6 8. Nxg6 hxg6 9. Qd3 Nc6 10. c3 Bf5 11. e4 Qe7 12. Bg2 O-O-O 13. Be3 Bd7 14. e5 Bxe5 
15. dxe5 Nxe5 16. Qe2 Rhe8 17. Nd2 Nf3+ 18. Nxf3 Bb5 0-1 And this was a correspondence game for crying out loud.

I gather HGman likes 1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.Nf3 dxe5 4.e4/Nc3, but despite Danielsen's occasional espousal of it, it amounts to nothing more than an inferior Kings Gambit Declined for white. 

It is important to realise that a gambit opening for Black that equalises is somewhat of a victory for him. However a gambit opening for White that at best equalises is not considered such a big achievement, as we expect a bit more from the white pieces. 

In light of the above, it would be nice if HGman and others would stop harping on comparisons between White and Black gambits such as the KG and From's for instance. Such comparisons are more or less absurd, it would be much more compelling to compare like with like.

Conclusion: The From's is most likely the reason that the Bird's Opening isn't more popular, especially at the lower levels and I don't think this is likely to change anytime soon.  

Toppylov

Postscript: Will we get to see HGman's trademark back pedalling in his next post I wonder.