Can a bird be too shocked or scared to fly?

My husband, son, and I were sitting on the back deck when suddenly this dove came from around the corner flapping madly and inefficiently. He barely cleared our 5 ft fence, then crash landed in the yard and was sort of flopping about on the ground. I told my son to go get a towel so we could catch him and maybe help him. Son said to just wait and see. We kept an eye out for the Evil Cat who probably created this sad situation. Then, about 5 minutes later, the dove came flying back over the fence and made it to a telephone wire. He still looked labored and erratic, but he made it. He sat on the line preening his feathers for about 3 minutes, looking pissed! Then he was able to fly into a near by tree with very little effort.
What was up with that? Bird heal thyself?