I believe we have great blues around here. Or rather they're common enough that I see them without going to a wildlife sanctuary. I actually saw one invade my neighbor's back yard.. they have a decorative pond, they were stocking it with fish.. possibly koi, I'm not certain what kind. And some waterbirds had learned that they could get an easy meal by visiting the pond, I saw some sort of Heron walking around eating fish. Apparently they only ate the expensive fish.
Unfortunately that family moved away. I'd like to stake out the pond and try to get more herons, I imagine they'd allow me to get close enough to use my 70-200, they have to be somewhat humanized living in an area like this (suburb of Chicago). The house still hasn't really sold, some flippers (people that buy houses, improve them, and then try to sell them for a profit quickly) bought it over a YEAR ago and still haven't managed to sell it, which is not the way to make money in real estate. I doubt they're bothering to stock the pool, they have to be tearing their hair out by this stage trying to figure out how to sell the house.
I tell ya, you're just trying to challenge my notions of what's what in the universe. First you show me a short necked heron, then a short necked egret. Next thing you know there'll be a little known short necked giraffe (no bonus points for mentioning okapi, I know that they're close relatives of giraffes, I know this because every time I get a picture of one it's got its tongue up its nose which giraffe do to me as well).