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
Tapajós-Xingu moist forests protects both sides of the Tapajós near Itaituba, with an area of , but it is underfunded. The Tapajós National Forest does little to protect the forests near Aveiro. Tapajós-Xingu moist forests The Tapajós-Xingu moist forests (NT0168) is an ecoregion in the eastern Amazon basin. It is part of the Amazon biome. The ecoregion extends southwest from the Amazon River between its large Tapajós and Xingu tributaries. The Tapajós-Xingu moist forests lie between the Tapajós river to the west and the Xingu rivers to the east, tributaries of the Amazon River to the north. They have an area of .