Neighbors say Pensacola Beach couple is shooing away shorebirds. It's ruffling feathers.

Michelle Baker lives on Pensacola Beach and walks the shore almost every day. Last year, she and other residents were excited to see endangered least terns and black skimmers nesting near the dunes for the first time in a long time.

The area includes a swath of public beach parallel to the 800 block of Ariola Drive.

The Audubon Society of Florida cordoned off the area so people would not harm or disturb the endangered animals during their three-month nesting season.

“There was about a hundred birds here last year, and a lot of us, as neighbors, are very excited about it,” said Baker, who is a volunteer steward with the Florida Audubon Society. “There were a few neighbors right here close to the area, they were not happy about it. I watched it every day as being one of the stewards. It was very apparent and obvious they had to go around (from their house to get to the beach) and they wanted to have just direct beach access. That's what it appeared to be.”

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A few weeks ago, the shorebirds began to return to the same area. Neighbors again took notice, encouraged that perhaps the endangered species are making a comeback.

But along with the birds, something else popped up on the public beach and nearby dunes : a row of tents stretching over 100 yards along with an array of fluttering flags and kites. Some of the kites looked like predatory birds.

“One day I'm walking by, and I see maybe seven tents,” said Baker, “and they're all spacious, very far apart, but they all look matching. They all have these big flags on them. One had like a hawk flag. I realized (the neighbors) are intentionally harassing an endangered species and animals that live here on the beach. All the neighbors were upset.”

One of those neighbors is Charlie Schuler, retired Pensacola State College humanities professor and longtime surfer. He walks to the beach early each morning to check surf conditions for a local surf report.

He also noticed all the tents, flags and fluttering devices and he approached the owners of the nearby Gulf front home who were putting them up, Eugene and Jana Renfroe. The couple lives near Birmingham, Alabama, and Pensacola Beach is their home away home several months out of the year.

“I said, ‘Why are you setting these up?’” Schuler recounted. “She said, ‘For family.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but I've noticed the last two days, no one is sitting under there. You're trying to prevent the birds from nesting, aren't you?’ She just looked at me and shrugged her shoulders and smiled and then walked into her house, and that ticked me off. So, I went down and started videoing everything, and I videoed every single day. They did all of this on purpose.”

Schuler said he saw the couple set up the flags and tents on the beach every morning and remove them at night. He said he also saw Eugene Renfroe with a shovel trying to shoo the birds away and he wondered why Renfroe carried a bucket with a small scoop net as he walked the area where the birds were attempting to nest.

“He acted like he was picking up trash,” said Schuler, “and that's been their modus operandi the whole time. They go, ‘Oh, we’re picking up trash. They are trying to prevent an act of nature that keeps the species from becoming extinct and at least able to procreate. Then they want to come across as these great citizens who care about litter on the beach when they weren't even walking the beach line where the litter is.”

Concerned about the birds, neighbors said they contacted Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). They said an officer came and talked to the Renfroe’s about the tents, flags and predatory bird kites.

The endangered least terns and black skimmers are protected under Florida law, which states that “no person shall pursue, molest, harm, harass, capture, possess, or sell any endangered species or parts thereof or their nests or eggs except as authorized by specific permit.”

“They had these mobile hawks that they flew all along the sand dune line to try and scare the birds away,” said Schuler. “The FWC did make them take down the hawks, and a lot of flags. Anything that could create movement and color, they had stretched for over a hundred yards.”

The News Journal reached out to FWC for comment, but the agency did not respond by deadline. Neighbors said the Florida Audubon Society also inspected the area on the same day the wildlife officer came out and found eggs. They cordoned off an area from 16th Avenue up to the couple’s home.

“They had to then just move their efforts a little bit farther to the east, in front of their house,” said beach resident JJ Waters, a member of the volunteer beach turtle patrol who also walks the beach daily. “Now they've just doubled down on getting out every single day. The skimmers are trying to nest there, and they are just doing everything that they can to keep them from nesting.”

The News Journal spoke with Eugene and Jana Renfroe, but they declined to give any comments on the record. They expressed their “love” for the birds, but also indicated they wanted to enjoy the beach directly in front of their home without having to worry about them.

They also said they wanted to keep their relationship with their neighbors’ positive and had spoken to FWC and the Santa Rosa Island Authority about laws regarding wildlife and property rights.

More eggs were found recently and a wider area has now been cordoned off on the public beach in front of the Renfroe’s home. Neighbors continue to keep an eye on the nesting shorebirds because they say they're concerned about harassment. On the day the News Journal visited the area, the Renfroe's only had one tent up on the beach.

“They're making this a property rights argument and they keep telling me that they like the birds, but why can't the birds go to the national park? It's all cordoned off there, they say. Well, I worked for the national park for 12 years and in an ideal world, wouldn't it be nice if we could communicate with bird life and marine life and say, ‘You need to go here and you need to go there, and dolphins, you need to avoid plastic bags, or you'll suffocate.’ But we can't do that. They follow their nature and their instinct.”

Schuler, Baker and Waters say they would all like to see better protections and enforcement of environmental laws, whether by the state or Escambia County to address issues like they’ve had with the Renfroe’s.

In the meantime, Baker visits the area daily to keep an eye on the birds.

“They're an endangered species,” she explained. “To me, it's just honoring the turtles, the dolphins, shorebirds, seabirds. It would be so cool if we could all hang out, work together with the animals and the humans. Sometimes we just don't know (the rules). They do know. It's clear that they know now they can't. It was a bit disappointing to me, but I don't want to act us versus them or act judgmental, but educational. It's like nature prevailed, which makes me very excited that nature has won so far.”

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Neighbors say Pensacola Beach couple is shooing away shorebirds. It's ruffling feathers.