Effects of forest disturbance and habitat loss on avian communities in a Neotropical biodiversity hotspot

•We sampled birds in contiguous and fragmented forest under increasing disturbance.•Habitat loss affected species richness, capture rates and species composition more strongly than disturbance.•Selective-logged forest closely resembled old-growth forest in each landscape context.•Secondary forests had higher richness but very distinct communities.•Landscape and disturbance contexts influence the conservation value of disturbed forests.