. Canada geese arrive when the average daily temperature reaches 35 degrees. The ‘honkers’ apparently consider this the front line of spring , for it melts the ice on the lakes they love. When the temperature hits a steady 35 degrees in Washington, D.C., the geese can be found on nearby Chesapeake Bay. By March 30, when the water at Portsmouth , new Hampshire has cleaned, the geese are winging across Quebec , headed for Hudson bay, where it is never spring without them.