I know you're not supposed to do it and, its discouraged by Fish and Game (they'll fine you, actually) but I always put out food for the squirrels, we have the tufted ear squirrels in New Mexico, it got to where they'd look at the house, the back door, waiting.
They'd get in the bird feeders, they figured out how to open the feeders that held the suet and, the whole cake would disappear.
They especially loved almonds and, the Blue Jay's would fight the squirrels for them.