Birdie Sanders: Little bird steals the show at Sanders rally in Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – He entered to the strains of a Bruce Springsteen song and left as David Bowie played. In between, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was every bit a rock star in his campaign rally at the Moda Center in Portland.

This rock star had a brief co-star: a bird landed on his podium during his speech, drawing a laugh from the candidate and roar from the crowd.

After being introduced by a transgender woman who fully endorsed “the next President of the United States,” Sanders walked onto the stage at the Moda Center to the strains of a Springsteen song.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” he said, “but there’s a lot of people here,” he said from the same stage The Boss was on a few nights ago.

More than 11,000 people filled the Moda Center before a campaign rally with presidential candidate Bernie Sanders Friday as he continued his West Coast campaign trip.

The crowd roared as he let them know Donald Trump will never be president, in part because the American people will never elect someone who insults a wide swath of people and ethnicities.

He recited a familiar theme: when he began his campaign 11 months ago he trailed the presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton by nearly 70 points. Now, he said, one poll has him up by a point nationally.