Fire Bird is Falco's Up Special Move in both Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Fire bird does 14% damage, has high priority and has a controlable trajectory at the beggining. But because o its starting lag, Falco can be hit while begginig it and send farther away from the field, its range is very limited and in brfawl Falco's Phantasm is better for horizontal recovery. As fire fox, fire bird is a single hit when moving a multiple hits while charging. Its distance is to short to be of any use while trying to approach. Its only use would be vertical or diagonal recovery. To maxmize the usefullness of fire bird, one should try to position himself exactly under the ledge and use it completely vertical, this way it can sweetspot easier.
Unlike the Fire Fox, it doesn't burn opponents during the charge-up animation in Melee but, in Brawl it does. It also appears to cover a slightly shorter distance with less horizontal movement after completion.