How did this bird wind up on my hand yesterday?

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Yesterday afternoon, I was at my friend Michael's house working on some music. I went to the back yard for a smoke, and saw my friend Charlie, who is a one-eyed cat, nose to beak with what appeared to be a confused bird. Charlie is extremely well-fed, and well loved, and seemed to have no interest in eating the bird, or even batting him around, as cats sometimes do. The bird was just sitting there, making no effort to fly away. I went over and petted Charlie, as I always do (we've had some pretty long purr fests together), and asked what he and the bird were doing. He said he wasn't sure. I put my hand in front of the bird, and he hopped on. Michael's wife was watching TV nearby, and I asked her to take a picture of me and the bird. She did. I put the bird on my shoulder and walked back toward the garage studio, where Mike and I had been playing. I showed Mike the bird, and we discussed what might have happened. I didn't recognize the species of the bird, and couldn't tell if it was an adult who had been injured, or a juvenile who had made the mistake of taking his first flight into Michael's back yard, which is patrolled by several semi-feral cats. Michael and I finally walked back to the back yard, and the bird seemed to be gathering strength. He looked at me with one eye, as birds do (in my fantasy life, he was saying thanks), and proceeded to fly up into the live oak tree that provides shade for Michael and me when we take a break from playing music. Michael and I went back to the garage and he recorded a piano piece off the top of my head, which we've called Little Bird, or Injured Bird. I'm no ornithologist, though I can identify SOME of California's birds. Do you have any idea what this little guy might be? What do you think might have happened?