The East Fowl River discharges into Mobile Bay south of Belle Fontaine.

[2] The West Fowl River discharges into the Mississippi Sound east of Coden.

[3] It was named by the original French colonists as the Riviere aux Poules, which can be translated into English as Fowl River.

[4] The famed Irish pirate Paddy Scott would regularly enter and leave the river.

This shallow estuary, with average depths of less than 10 feet, provides a vast transition area between the freshwater wetlands of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta to the north and the marine environments of the Gulf of Mexico to the south.