Cape Elizabeth police are warning residents to be careful after someone spotted two coyotes on a popular walking trail.

A local resident reported seeing the coyotes while walking on the Robinson Woods trails off of Shore Road on Thursday morning, police said in a Facebook post. They urged people to use caution and be aware of their surroundings while walking on trails.

The Cape Elizabeth Land Trust also posted about the coyotes and shared a photo of them taken by the person who spotted them standing in the middle of a trail. The land trust has posted signs about the coyotes on kiosks at trail heads and reminded people to be cautious while walking with unleashed dogs.

The photo was taken on the Robinson Woods Pond Trail, part of the 145-acre Robinson Woods preserved by the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust.

Coyotes live in almost any conceivable habitat in Maine, including downtown urban areas, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. They tend to hunt at night and eat small animals, including snowshoe hare, mice, rats, beavers and birds. They occasionally kill domestic cats, dogs and other wild predators that might compete with them for food.

Coyotes are protective of their young and will attack dogs that get too close to their dens and pups, according to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Biologists estimate there are at least 12,000 coyotes in Maine.