I am a veterinarian from Austria and we operated on a bearded vulture 1 year ago where a strangulation injury led to the amputation of a foot. She is the first bird worldwide where we were able to prove that osseointegrated prosthetics work for avian patients. since then she is living perfectly with it. for my future cases, I am looking for sensors that I can place on the bird leg to measure the movements of the healthy leg in comparison with the other one. It would also be useful if there are sensors that can also measure which forces apply especially when landing and walking with the prosthetic. that way I might be able to design the external prosthetic in a different shape and from other materials to make it as physiological as possible. If you know someone who can help me with that it would be awesome!
If you haven't found anything yet, I'd like to suggest using a triple axis accelerometer attached to a battery powered WiFi module. You can attach the module to the bird like a necklace tracker and get real time data from the accelerometer about the birds movements. You'll be able to analyze the movement and tell which leg the bird is on and how the movement differs between legs.
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