He has described a number of extinct species of birds and more recently was involved in discovering that the Solomon Islands Frogmouth is a species (instead of a subspecies of the Marbled Frogmouth, as formerly believed).
Upon examining it, Nigel Cleere, Andrew Kratter, David Steadman and co-workers realized that it was highly distinct, and it was moved to a newly coined genus, Rigidipenna.
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The species was named after David Steadman in recognition of his contributions to Pacific paleo-ornithology and the understanding of the radiation of Gallirallus-like rails.
According to David Steadman it is possible that the 1774 painting by Georg Forster which depicts a mysterious bird from the island of Raiatea (formerly known as Ulieta) is not of a thrush or a honeyeater, as previously hypothesised, but of a relative of the Huahine Starling.