Sheldon Cooper overcomes his fear of birds on The Big Bang Theory. Really, a fear of Birds?

In the 9th Episode of The Big Bang Theory Season 5, Sheldon Cooper is seen scared to death from a bird hanging out outside of his window. When Penny and Leonard ask Sheldon why he is freaking out, he tells them he has Ornithophobia - a fear of birds.

Throughout the episode, the bird torments him from the window. He calls animal control to come remove the bird that he describes as a "bluejay," and they laugh at him. The bird, however, appears to be of a more exotic species of bird and not a "bluejay" as Sheldon claims. His next attempt of getting rid of the bird included drawing the head of a cat with whiskers and all on a notebook, holding it up to his face, and then making cat noises. Obviously, this was not successful.

His next idea is to create a machine that Howard and Raj call a "Death Ray," which Sheldon vehemently rejects as a name for his devise. Sheldon's intent for the machine is for it to generate sound waves that scare off the bird. When he uses it, however, all it ends up doing is shattering the window's glass and the bird doesn't budge.

His fourth attempt of getting rid of the bird is to put on a mask and use a broom to "shoo" the bird away. When he opens the window to scare the bird, it ends up flying into the apartment. This prompts Sheldon to call Amy Fowler and Bernadette to come deal with the bird since they are biologists. While Bernadette is carrying the bird, that she realizes is someone's pet, Sheldon actually asks her to carefully take it to the bathroom and "flush it down the toilet." Eventually Bernadette and Amy convince Sheldon to pet the bird, and he ends up loving it and wants to make it his pet.

The question here, however, is how rational is it for a grown man as intelligent as Sheldon to actually be afraid of a bird?

Even Sheldon acknowledges "this is ridiculous. I'm a grown man from Texas. This isn't a terrifying bird like a swan or a goose." » Sheldon Cooper overcomes his fear of birds on The Big Bang Theory. Really, a fear of Birds?