Zhan Gengxi (Chinese, B. 1941) "Two Whooping Cranes Standing" Signed and stamped lower right. Original Watercolor painting on Rice Paper. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting originally appeared on the Fleetwood First Day Cover for the 29c Whooping Crane stamp issued October 9, 1994. Few birds are as large or as distinctive as America's Whooping Crane. And few birds are as threatened. Crowned with fashionable feathers, Grus Americana was virtually wiped out in the 19th century due to the popularity of its plumes with milliners. Known for its trumpeting call, created by an unusual coiled windpipe, the sizable Whooping Crane can be as long as 56 in. Though they are more numerous today thanks to strict conservation measures (in the late 1980s there were nearly 100 individuals), in 1941 just 11 of these majestic birds were believed to exist. Cranes around the world have faced similar difficulties, and of the 14 known species most are now rare. An exception is the somewhat smaller sandhill crane of the central and western United States. Conservation laws there have helped this bird to hold its own. Every spring, thousands of bird watchers gather in western Nebraska's Sandhill region to view the migration of these birds. Interestingly, the sandhill crane may do its part in saving its cousin the Whooping Crane. In recent years, experimental projects have been undertaken in which Whooping Crane eggs have been placed in sandhill crane nests in the hope that the wild birds would successfully raise the newly-hatched Whoopers which would then be fit to survive in the wild. Image Size: 11.25 x 12.5 in. Sheet Size: 12.75 x 14.75 in. Overall Size: 16 x 20 in. Unframed. (B14741)