Need help with "parrot"
What is the difference between el loro, el papaguayo, y la cotorra. They all seem to mean parrot. Are they interchangeable or are there small differences?
6 Answers
It might help to realize that when it comes to the naming of animals (in regards to common names), there are often numerous discrepancies from country to country, especially in reference to animals that are only indigenous to a particular or particular countries. Moreover, aside from the geographic variations, the distinctions and delineations that are made between certain species in English are not necessarily and not usually the same distinctions that are drawn by native Spanish speakers living in areas where a given animal lives. For example, what might commonly be considered a "parrotlet" in English might be described as a "paraquito" (parakeet) in Spanish.
That being said, this is how the RAE defines each of these (which is not necessarily to assume that this is how they are described within each and every Spanish speaking country)
Loro
Papagayo, ave, y más particularmente el que tiene el plumaje con fondo rojo.
Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados
Papagayo
Ave del orden de las Psitaciformes de unos 35 cm desde lo alto de la cabeza hasta la extremidad de la cola y 6 dm de envergadura. Tiene pico fuerte, grueso y muy encorvado, patas de tarsos delgados y dedos muy largos, con los cuales coge el alimento para llevarlo a la boca, y plumaje amarillento en la cabeza, verde en el cuerpo, encarnado en el encuentro de las alas y en el extremo de las dos remeras principales. Es propio de los países tropicales, pero en domesticidad vive en los climas templados y aprende a repetir palabras y frases enteras, por lo cual se le aprecia mucho. Hay diversas especies con plumaje muy distinto, pero siempre con colores brillantes.
Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados
Cotorra
1). f. Papagayo pequeño.
2). f. urraca.
3). f. Ave prensora americana, parecida al papagayo, con las mejillas cubiertas de pluma, alas y cola largas y puntiagudas, y colores varios, en que domina el verde.
Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados
As you can see, the most general term seems to be "papagayo" (although, I believe that "loro" and "papagayo" are often used somewhat interchangeably) This is probably similar to the way in which the word parrot can be used to describe any of the tropical birds belonging to the parrot species (remember that parakeets and cockatoos are often also considered to be types of parrots in English). It is interesting that aside from being a common term for a "small parrot," the word "cotorra" is also used to describe a type of bird commonly referred to as a "magpie" in English (urraca).
Aside from these terms, you might also try looking up "guacamayo (often refers to a macaw), perico or periquito (often refers to either a budgie or a parakeet), cacatúa (usually refers to a cockatoo) loris or loriquitos (lories and lorikeets).
Here are some examples of what I mean regarding naming variations from country to country and language to language (pictures provided for visual learners 
):
Scarlet Macaw
Common names in Spanish: Guacamayo, Guacamayo Rojo, Guacamayo Rojiazul, Guacamayo Peruano, Guacamayo Escarlata, Guacamayo Rojo Escarlata, Lapa Roja, Guacamayo Macao.
Scientific Name: Ara macao
Usually, the best way to see what a particular bird might be called in a given country (aside from asking one of the country's inhabitants) is to try to find its scientific name (genus and species) and research from there. If you are interested in researching further, here are a couple of links that you might find useful:
Subfamilia Psittacinae/Psitácidas (true parrots)
Las Cotorras y sus Parientes [Several alphabetized lists of various species]
Psitácidas [List of over 200 species belonging to this sub-family]
Psittacidae [Wikipedia article on this particular sub-family]
sittacidae">Psittacidae [Indexed list of species belonging to this sub-family]
In my opinion, the papagayo seems to be a parrot, the cotorra seems to be more like a parakeet, and the loro looks like a small parrot/cockatoo. Just my observation from these pics.
fixed image sizes
El Loro is a parrot
El papaguayo is a parakeet
El cotorra is cockatoo
I googled cotorra and the pictures seemed to mostly be green parrots. Google had more trouble with papagayo.
Papagayo parrot cotorra small parrot loro parrot especially with red feathers in the back.
