Another vote here for Sibley’s, it rides in the vehicle. For something smaller I’d go with the National Geographic Guide.

A good point made about birding by ear, I get to do bird surveys, at least 75% of the birds detected are heard rather than seen. I learned them while birding long before there was an internet so I don’t use an app, but that would be a great way to learn the sounds.

Whenever I have a question I go to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s www.allaboutbirds.org and especially to their subscriber website “Birds of North America Online https://bna.birds.cornell.edu $5/mo

"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744