The Refugio Paz de las Aves, also known as Angel Paz’s place is a highlight for all visitors to Mindo whether they are primarily birders or not. Angel and his sons make it easy for everyone to see some really amazing birds. Our guide was Venecio who speaks English well and knows all the birds. The location is off the main road and uphill quite a bit so it’s best to organize some transport through your lodge. We had Sachatamia organize a driver named Daniel who took us here (leaving at 5am), waited for us to see all the birds, then took us to the Oilbird cave and back to Mindo. I also emailed Angel Paz to book in advance so he knew to expect us. It’s $30 for the full morning tour (April 2016) which includes the Cock of the Rock lek, several antpittas, birding along the roadside and close-up viewing of hummingbirds and tanagers back at the lodge where breakfast is served. This is a prime example of how local people embrace eco-tourism and protect the wildlife on their property. Map & Description
COCK OF THE ROCK LEK
First stop at 5:45am was the Cock of the Rock lek. We spent about 45 minutes here just watching these amazing birds dance around trying to attract the ladies.
Dark-backed Wood Quail near the lek.
ANTPITTAS
Then we drove to a few places where Venecio coaxed normally shy antpittas out with worms which form part of their normal diet. We saw two species – Yellow-breasted Antpitta (2 different ones), Giant Antpitta (Maria). Shakira didn’t show up that day.
Near the Antpitta place, we saw a beautiful Golden-headed Quetzal perched high in a tree.
BIRDING THE AREA – ROADSIDE
Next we drove up and down the road looking for birds and stopping to observe them better. Here are a few highlights that I managed to get photos of. My full bird list is on eBird.
Orange-breasted Fruit-eater
Golden-headed Quetzal
We also saw some Red-billed Parrots fly over but I missed the photo.
LODGE AREA
There are a couple areas to see here. One deck overlooks a banana feeder where tanagers and toucans can be seen.
Blue-Winged Mountain Tanager 
Crimson-rumped Toucanet 
More Blue-Winged Mountain Tanager
Toucan Barbet
Flame-faced Tanager & Golden-naped Tanager 
Blue-grey Tanager
HUMMINGBIRD FEEDERS
There are several hummingbird feeders at the deck where breakfast is served and I was so engrossed by the tiny beauties I almost forgot to eat breakfast! Highlights here were Booted Racket-tails, White-necked Jacobin, Velvet-purple Coronet, Violet-tailed Sylph, Rufous-Tailed Hummingbird and more! Full list as per Venecio is on eBird.
Difficult as it was to tear ourselves away from the hummingbirds, our birding day was just beginning and we had a 2 hour drive to the Oilbird Cave so off we went!