In Mavericks the icons in the menubar changed behavior.
The sorting is not dependent anymore on the order at which the apps were launched, but rather … something else. The icons jump and I now have an app running that adds a menubar icon, when I click it, I see the location services icon for a moment to its right, before it disappears, leaving a gap.
The icon that flashes mostly is the location icon, which appears leftmost in the sequence (sometimes leftmost removed by one). I didn't think OS X menubar icons can even be drawn where I am seeing them.
Is there a hidden preference or something I can do to prevent OS X being smart about the sorting?