Brownish elaenia the Xingu River in the south of Pará state, North Region, Brazil; it ranges upstream on the Xingu for 700 km, then a tributary to the west of the Xingu, the Rio Iriri, for another 700 km. The next upstream tributary for the bird's range, is the Madeira River in the Amazon Basin's southwest, Amazonas state. The range proceeds 2400 km upstream into the headwaters of the Madeira in northern Bolivia. To the west the brownish elaenia's range continues as the Amazon River becomes the Marañón River and proceeds to the headwaters in northern Peru; this is also along the
Xingu-Tocantins-Araguaia moist forests World Wildlife Fund classes the ecoregion "Vulnerable". The Tapajós-Xingu, Xingu-Tocantins-Araguaia and Tocantins/Pindare moist forests ecoregions on the eastern edge of the Amazon basin have all been badly affected by human settlement and deforestation. The Xingu-Tocantins-Araguaia region is the most deforested and degraded part of the Amazon region after the adjoining Tocantins/Pindare moist forests to the east. It is crossed by the Trans-Amazonian Highway (BR-230) from east to west, and by the BR-422 highway along the Tocantins. Most of the land along these roads has been deforested and replaced by pasture or farm fields. The remaining forest has been stripped of