According to
http://demo.icu-project.org/icu-bin/locexp?_=zh&d_=en&x=col&collation=pinyin
1. 鳥
2. 女性
is correct.

Agreed! 

However the output of the SyncEvolution does not match this!

I believe the issue is in SyncEvolution.

Once sorted the correcet order should be this I believe
index 0 = Brian
index 1 = 單  ( dān)
index 2 = Even
index 3 = Evenly
index 4 = 鳥  (niǎo)
index 5 = 女 性 (nǚ xìng)

In SyncEval it is not (index 4 & 5 are reversed)
index 0 = Brian
index 1 = 單  ( dān)
index 2 = Even
index 3 = Evenly
index 4 = 女 性 (nǚ xìng)
index 5 = 鳥  (niǎo)