JINSHAN, Taiwan — The paparazzi gathered by the dozens, braving cold and rain and sticky heat. Sometimes their lanky quarry would lead them on long chases. Other times the celebrity would cooperate, particularly if crab or snail was on offer, drawing huge crowds to this farming hamlet on the northern coast of Taiwan after each sighting.

The subject of such adoration was not a teenage Mandopop star in hiding but a bird — a Siberian crane, one of fewer than 4,000 in the world and the only one ever seen on this Asian island on the edge of the tropics.

Environmentalists called him the little white crane of Jinshan, after the rural district where he spent most of his time, and his movements were tracked on Facebook and in the local news media. After he briefly ventured south over the mountains and took temporary refuge in the parking lot of a Taipei subway station, satellite trucks lined the country roads to monitor his return.

The local government hired a full-time bodyguard to look out for the crane, who faced threats from feral dogs and powerful typhoons. But the biggest problem was the sightseers.